


The Traveling Wizards

by Harry Nutter (HellishPeon)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Healing, Mental Health Issues, Other, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:22:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26656579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellishPeon/pseuds/Harry%20Nutter
Summary: Post Prisoner of Azkaban. Sirius needs to visit a healer, and the only one he knows that would be willing to treat him is located in the Netherlands. He decides to make a vacation out of it, and takes Harry along. Traipsing throughout Europe, they experience what the world has to offer them while healing from their pasts.
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning** _:_ The story will feature neglect, emotional abuse, PSTD, anxiety attacks, depression, that's why I rated it M. I'll try my best to convey how it feels to suffer from these throughout the story. It won't be a lighthearted story.
> 
> They're sensitive topics, and it's not everyone's cup of tea.
> 
> That being said, if you're staying, enjoy the story. 

June 27th, 4 Privet drive

Harry was lying on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. It had been yet another day where he had to do chores while he knew Dudley was having fun. It was even worse today, he had to work in the garden and Dudley stayed home. He had to work in the sweltering sun while he could see Dudley, in the shade. Smirking, sipping on his lemonade. Occasionally taunting him. He couldn’t even respond to the taunts, he knew better by now. He would get punished, one way or the other.

And when he was done, what did he get? A glass of lukewarm water. It was one thing to have to do everything around the house. It annoyed him when Dudley taunted him. But not even being allowed to sate his thirst, that’s what really galled him.

He longed to go to the Weasleys. After living one summer with them, he now knew what a normal vacation was like. He wondered what was worse. Experiencing the normalcy at the Weasleys and then coming back here, so he could feel how much worse it was, or never going there, never having those good memories so he wouldn’t know what he was missing.

He wished to go to the Weasleys, but he didn’t want to be the first to suggest it. What if he came across as needy? And he didn’t want to burden them either. He knew that they were poor. He knew Ron had issues with that, he saw how Ron got uncomfortable whenever it came up. And if he went to the Weasleys, they had to feed another mouth. So unless Ron suggested it, unless it was ok with his parents, he wouldn’t broach the topic.

Suddenly, he heard a hoot. He looked around before he found the source. There was a small brown owl pecking his window. He got had gotten his hopes up, maybe Ron finally sent a letter. But no, it wasn’t Errol. It wasn’t an owl he recognized.

But he got up, hoping to find something interesting to take his mind of the sweltering heat. He opened the window, and the owl immediately presented a letter tied to his leg. As soon as he took it, the owl flew to a nearby tree.

He unrolled the letter and started reading

_Hey Harry,_

_This is Padfoot. How are you doing? Enjoying your vacation, causing enough mischief? I’ve found a place to stay, and I’m doing much better now. I still need to do some stuff abroad, however. I was going to make a holiday out of it, and was wondering if you wanted to come along. I missed so much of your life, I should never have gone after Wormtail that night, I should have taken you somewhere save. . ̷I̷ ̷w̷i̷l̷l̷ ̷b̷e̷a̷t̷ ̷m̷y̷s̷e̷l̷f̷ ̷o̷v̷e̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷i̷s̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷e̷v̷e̷r̷.̷ ̷I̷ ̷s̷h̷o̷u̷l̷d̷ ̷h̷a̷v̷e̷ ̷b̷e̷e̷n̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷r̷e̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷,̷ ̷a̷s̷ ̷I̷ ̷p̷r̷o̷m̷i̷s̷e̷d̷ ̷J̷a̷m̷e̷s̷.̷_

_Anyway, I want to be there in your life. I know I haven’t been there for you after your parents died, and I’m deeply sorry for that. So I want to be there for you now. Maybe as a father figure, or as that cool uncle who lets you get away with things, whatever you want. So I want to catch up with you. Have fun, get to know you, experience things together, stuff like that. I also need to run some errands in some places, and some pleasant company along the way sounds great._

_I’d completely understand if you want to stay with your family, however. My family was a heap of nutters, and I got the impression yours weren’t very decent either. But I could be wrong, as I only saw them for a little while. I remember Lily complaining about your aunt, but time changes people, so who knows? Anyway, my point is that I would understand completely if you’d rather stay with your family, or if you have other plans. ̷I̷t̷'̷s̷ ̷n̷o̷t̷ ̷a̷s̷ ̷i̷f̷ ̷s̷p̷e̷n̷d̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷t̷i̷m̷e̷ ̷w̷i̷t̷h̷ ̷a̷ ̷f̷a̷i̷l̷u̷r̷e̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̷a̷ ̷g̷o̷d̷f̷a̷t̷h̷e̷r̷ ̷s̷o̷u̷n̷d̷s̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷ ̷m̷o̷s̷t̷ ̷p̷l̷e̷a̷s̷a̷n̷t̷ ̷a̷n̷y̷w̷a̷y̷.̷_

_But if you want to join me, you’d have to reply soon. I want to leave GB on July 1 st, although I could postpone for a little while ̷.̷ ̷I̷ ̷d̷o̷ ̷n̷e̷e̷d̷ ̷t̷o̷ ̷l̷e̷a̷v̷e̷ ̷s̷o̷o̷n̷,̷ ̷t̷h̷o̷u̷g̷h̷,̷ ̷a̷s̷ ̷I̷ ̷d̷o̷ ̷n̷e̷e̷d̷ ̷t̷o̷ ̷v̷i̷s̷i̷t̷ ̷a̷ ̷h̷e̷a̷l̷e̷r̷ ̷s̷o̷ ̷d̷o̷n̷'̷t̷ ̷t̷a̷k̷e̷ ̷t̷o̷o̷ ̷l̷o̷n̷g̷._

_Anyway, if you want to come along, write as soon as possible, and prepare. Get your trunk ready, pack some winter clothes too, because we’ll be camping for some part of the trip and it can get a bit cold at night._

_Also, how are your friends doing? I hope you guys didn’t get in too much trouble for that night, and I wanted to thank you for believing me and helping me. I’m not sure if I could’ve made it out alive. Could you tell me a bit about stuff you’d like to visit? So, if you’re coming along, I could plan out some things to do. Not that I planned everything out, I’m hoping to go with the flow of things, besides those few places I do need to visit._

_Anyway, that’s it. I can’t think of anything to add, so I’m going to send it now._

_Padfoot_

He was happy and excited, because he had just gotten a way out, of escaping the Dursleys for this summer, and he’d get to see new places. Plus, another link of his parents wanted to talk with him. This reassured him, because he still had no idea why professor Lupin never mentioned that he was close with his father. Concerned for Sirius, because he was able to decipher the scratched-out parts, and they painted Sirius as someone who was hurting. He definitely wanted to go. Anything would be better than staying here. He scrambled to get a piece of parchment and a quill, and started writing. 

_Hello Padfoot,_

_I’m happy to hear you’re doing better now. I’d love to go on a vacation with you. You’re right, the Dursleys aren’t great to be around. They hate magic and dislike me, so anything where I don’t have to spend the summer with them sounds better. I don’t have many likes or an idea what places I’d enjoy, since the Dursleys didn’t really bring me anywhere. There are some that sound kind of fun, though. I’d love to see a beach once, and visiting a zoo without the Dursleys sounds great. I also want to see a professional quidditch match, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea since you’re still a wanted man._

_I’m looking forward to the trip, but am wondering when or how you’d come pick me up, or if I should come meet you._

_Harry_

As soon as he was finished, the brown owl came flying in again. Harry rolled the parchment and tied it to the owl’s leg. “Bring it to Sirius, will you?” The owl hooted and flew away.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

June 29th, 4 Privet Drive

Harry was in a good mood. He had finished packing his trunk, and was looking forward to hearing back from Sirius. His relatives had noticed this, so they were extra unpleasant. It wasn’t enough to detract from his good mood, however. He sent of a letter to Ron explaining that he was going to spend a bit of time with Padfoot, and that he wouldn’t be able to reply to letters. He had a letter written down for Hermione as well. He explained that he was going to spend some time with Sirius, and asked if she could do his school shopping for the next year, and that he was going to pay her back at the start of the term. He planned to tell Hedwig hang around Hermione’s house while he was away, and to come back with her to Hogwarts.

Harry hadn’t sent it yet, because he was still waiting for a reply from Sirius. He looked outside his window for what felt like the hundredth time today, hoping to spot Sirius’ owl. He saw a brown speck moving very slowly getting bigger. He tried not to get his hopes up too much, since the last few times he did that, it ended up being a brown pigeon. Didn’t mean that he stopped staring at it, though. Finally, he could make out some of the features of the speck. Didn’t look like a pigeon. He did a little dance out of excitement. Then immediately stopped, realizing that people could see him through the window. Didn’t want to give his family more reasons to punish him. Finally, the speck was big enough that he could recognize it as being Sirius’ owl. A few seconds later, it flew in through the window. It landed on the table, and presented a letter.

Harry took the letter, almost tearing it in excitement:

_Hey Harry,_

_I’m so glad to hear that you want to come along. It would be much better if I came to get you, since I know where you live and can come as Padfoot to you, but you don’t know exactly where I live and can’t come here as stealthily. I’ll come pick you up on the 30 th and we’ll go to my house first. We need to check if you have everything, and if we need to buy extra things here. Hopefully, I’ll be there around 9 am. Since I’ll travel a part of the way as Padfoot, it’ll be hard to tell how long that’ll take. Anyway, I hope you’re prepared well, and doing all right._

_Padfoot_

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

_June 30 th, 4 Privet drive _

Harry was trying his best to not nod off. He pulled a plant with his left hand, only to realize it wasn’t a weed. His mind kept wandering to Sirius. He pulled another plant. Grass, good. This continued for a while, until he felt something wet on his arm. He tilted his head a bit to see what it was, and saw a big black dog. He looked much better than last time. He turned around and hugged it. The dog started licking his face, and Harry squirmed a bit.

Suddenly, the dog stopped and started walking towards the door. Not having a better idea, he followed him. The dog didn’t stop until he got to Harry’s room, at which point he transformed into Sirius in one fluid motion. Harry gaped; he still wasn’t used to seeing it. He then hugged Sirius, asking if he was doing all right.

“Yeah,” Sirius replied. “I’m feeling much better now. What about you? You seem a bit tired.”

“Didn’t sleep that well. I was too excited.” He couldn’t help but yawn after that.

“We can fix that later. Anyway, what did you tell your family?” Sirius asked, while walking towards the small, dinky bed in the room.

“Told ‘em a friend would pick me up so I wouldn’t have to spend much time here. They were glad to hear it.”

“Good, good. And your friends?” Sirius was looking around the room, noting how everything was old or broken. He tried his best to contain a frown.

“Told them I was going to stay with you a bit, asked Hermione if she could take care of my school shopping for me.” He looked away from Sirius. He wasn’t sure if it was ok to tell his friends that. He didn’t want them to get caught because of this.

“Great, hadn’t thought about that. Anyway, take this,” Harry relaxed and Sirius started rummaging in his pockets. Finally, he took his hand back, now containing a potion’s vial. “It’s Polyjuice, it’ll transform you into a random Muggle whose hair I took.”

“Hmm, looks a lot easier to swallow compared to the last time I saw it” Harry said, taking the vial.

“You’ve used Polyjuice potion before? Wait, never mind- Ok, so the plan is to transform you, and then we’ll walk to outside the anti-apparition borders. I’ll then apparate us close to my home, and then we’ll go inside.”

“Apparition? What’s that? And how far are those borders? I don’t think I can walk very far with my luggage.”

“Never heard of apparition before? It’s moving from one place to the other, without using the floo or a portkey. And don’t worry about your luggage, I’ll take it and transform back to Padfoot, so you don’t have to carry it. You’ll just have to follow me to the border. It’s about 500 yards away from here.”

“That sounds pretty neat. Where does my luggage go to when you transform?” He wondered if it became part of Padfoot.

“There are a couple theories about that, but I’m not smart enough to get them, yet alone explain. But we have to go now. We still need to do several things today.”

“Ok, I’ll tell aunt Petunia that I’m going, can you wait outside? She really doesn’t like animals in the house.” Harry started walking towards the door.

“Ok.” Sirius grabbed the luggage and transformed back into a dog. He immediately transformed back. “Before I forget, I live at 12 Grimmauld Place.”

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

_June 30 th, Grimmauld Place_

2 people appeared in a desolate street with a loud POP, and the shorter one started dry heaving.

“Yeah, some people react like that to their first side along. It’ll be over soon. Remember what I told you about where I lived. Follow me.” He looked around and transformed into a dog when he saw that no one was looking.

Harry followed Padfoot till they reached an apartment block. Suddenly, the block started to morph. It seemed to split in two. And a new unit started to appear between the parts that were moving away. Slowly getting larger, until it was slightly bigger than surrounding units.

Padfoot went to the door of that unit and started pawing at the doorhandle. Harry pushed the handle to help, and the door opened. They entered.

Inside looked grimy and dark. Something moved, and Harry’s head turned to stare at it.

Padfoot transformed back to Sirius. “Don’t worry, that’s just a doxy, stupid pest. Come to the kitchen, be quiet and watch your steps.”

The kitchen table had an open trunk, some potion vials and a heap of wands.

“Good, we didn’t wake up my dear mother. She can be a nightmare.” Sirius said, placing Harry’s trunk on the table.

“Your mother? You never mentioned her.” Harry grabbed a chair to sit down.

“Well… More like a painting of her. She’s dead. Bit the dust. Kicked the bucket. Pushing up daisies. If we’re too loud, she’ll start screaming at us, and trust me, we don’t want that.”

“Oh. I’ll keep that in mind.” Harry didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t worry, it couldn’t have happened to a viler woman. Anyway, we can do magic inside and no one will detect it. Fidelius charm. But not outside, your wand still has a trace.” Sirius started rummaging through his trunk.

“I’ve gotten used to not doing any magic in the summer. It’s ok.”

“But you’ll need to be able to do magic in case someone spots us. And, you know, to make camping easier. Try out these wands, see if any works for you. They won’t work as well as the one you have now, but they don’t have a trace. Try a lumos with each of them.”

Harry went through the pile, trying them out and continuously keeping the one that worked best. After a while, he was left with 2 of them. He pointed them to Sirius. “These work the best, but I can’t feel one working better than the other.”

“Try mending something, see if you find which one suits you better. If that doesn’t work, try some transfiguration spells.” Sirius got up. “I’ll have to get some stuff upstairs; I’ll be right back-”

When Sirius returned, Harry was done with the wands. “This one is easier to use.” He held out the shorter of the two. “What determines how good a wand works for you?”

Sirius scratched his head. “Don’t really know, to be honest. I know that it’ll help if you get the wand from someone in combat, and I remember reading that family wands work a bit better. You’ll have to ask Ollivander. Anyway, the plan. Let’s see…” He grabbed a piece of parchment. “We’ll check if you have everything you need, and if not, you’ll go out to Diagon to get it. Or the Muggle side. We’ll still have to stock on some amount of prepared food, so you’ll have to go to Tom at the inn for that.”

“One problem with that, I think I took the Polyjuice potion about an hour ago.” Harry shifted around a bit. “And it still feels weird to walk around with another’s face.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Sirius took a bracelet from the table and gave it to Harry. “This’ll charm your face. It’ll turn your hair and eyes brown. Couldn’t use it myself today, because it tries to do the same when I’m Padfoot and it … looks odd. People freak out. So, food and items you didn’t pack, and you’ll need to convert some money to pounds. 300 Galleons should be fine-”

Wait, how was Sirius going to travel, then? “How will you travel if you can’t charm your face?” Harry interrupted him.

“I’ll wear something similar when we get out of the country. Don’t want to risk it here, security is still tighter than normal. They shouldn’t suspect you too much, most charms like this don’t affect your height, and I’m a lot taller than you,” He ruffled Harry’s hair, smiling. “Pipsqueak.”

“Stop that, my hair’s already messy enough.” Harry pushed Sirius’ hand away. He knew he was short, didn’t mean people should point it out to him. “So, what do we do after that?”

“Well, I have to visit someone in the Dutch Republic, so I guess we’ll start there. I have a Dutch language potion for you, you’ll have to drink it before we go to sleep tonight, and we’ll go tomorrow. We’ll pack our trunks after you get back later –”

“Wait, the Dutch Republic? I’m pretty sure it’s not called that anymore. Or I didn’t pay attention in class.”

“Hmmm? Oh yeah, I think that tripped Lily up too. Since we separated from the Muggles in 1677, our borders aren’t the same. If I remember right, they reflect changes till around 1700.”

“I see. Anyway, how will I get to Diagon? I’m not sure where here is in relation to there.”

“I’ll pop you over, and you’ll – one sec.” Sirius ran upstairs and came back with a mirror. “This is a two-way mirror; you can call me with it. You’ll just have to say Padfoot to the mirror.” He gave it to Harry. “When you’re done shopping, just call me and I’ll pop over.” He snapped his fingers.

They started going through Harry’s trunk, while going over a checklist. The table became more and more chaotic.

“Hmmm, I think you’ll need another pair of shoes. The ones you’re wearing now won’t do. Especially in rough terrain.” He held the shoes like they offended him, before throwing it on the floor. “I recommend wizarding shoes, they are more comfortable, especially compared to new Muggle shoes. Ask Madame Malkin to refer you.”

He pulled out a shirt, checking it over. It got thrown on the floor as well. “And if all your Muggle clothes are like this, I guess you’ll have to buy some new ones. I don’t know if there are any near Diagon, ask Tom. If there aren’t, I’ll take you to one I know. Oh, and 1 sleeping bag. It should be near the book shop.”

“Everything else is fine, then?”

“Well, other than that, everything seems ok. Wait… Hmm, I think I’ll go with you on the Muggle side. I still need to buy some stuff, like toilet paper. Much better than the cleaning charm. Not much more to pack, and I guess we can stop at shops abroad too. All the pressing things are here, we’ll see along the way if we need anything else.”

Harry suddenly remembered something. “Hey, wait. I think Ms. Weasley still has my vault key. She did my shopping last time since, well, you just escaped prison. I won’t be able to shop on our side.”

“What? Errm, try to get it back, you really shouldn’t leave it with others for long periods. But don’t worry,” Sirius took a small booklet from his pocket and tore out several pages. “This is a creditbook, you just write out the amount and the store clerk will sign it. Oh, and convert 400 Galleons instead of 300 at Gringotts, will you?” He started signing the pages he tore out.

“And try to hide that you’re not signing them. Don’t want to give people ideas. Wait –” Sirius ran back upstairs, and it took a while before he came back. “This is a moleskin pouch. No one can open it besides the owner. And it’s charmed so no one can take it from you without permission.”

Sirius plucked a few strands of hair from Harry. “Yowch. Wha –” “I’ll make you the owner of it, it’s handy to have. You can store your valuables in it and no one can take it.” Sirius pointed his wand towards the pouch and started casting spells softly after placing the hairs on top of it. 

“All done. Place the credits in it. And your mirror too. When you buy stuff, you take one and write out the amount you owe, and make the clerk sign it. That’s it, really.”

“Thanks Sirius.” He gave Sirius a dirty look. “But did you really have to yank out my hair?”

“No, but it was faster. And kinda funny” He chuckled. “Anyway, let’s wait for the potion to wear of. Wouldn’t want you to revert while people can see you.” He looked like something just occurred to him. “Oh, before I forget, tell Tom you’re going camping with 4 people for a week. That’s how much food you need. Empty your trunk, you can place the items you need to buy there.”

Sirius went upstairs and when he came back down with a wooden box, he saw that Harry was placing some items from his trunk into the pouch. He handed it over and Harry closed the trunk after placing it there. They waited for Harry to revert, talking. There wasn’t anything relevant to do. Finally, after 10 minutes, it wore off.

“All right, we have to be outside to apparate.” Sirius started walking.

They went to the hallway, and just as Sirius was about to open the door, the curtains of a painting parted. “FILTHY HALFBLOODS IN MY HOUSE! YOU DISSAPOINTMENT, WHY DID YOU BRING FILTHY HALFBLOODS IN MY HOUSE? KREACHER!”

Sirius rushed them outside. “Yeah, that’s my mother. Horrible woman. Hopefully, she’ll be quiet when we get back. Brace yourself –” Sirius apparated them away.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

_June 30 th, some place near the Leaky Cauldron_

POP

Harry looked around, disoriented. He took some deep breaths. “I still need to get used to it, but it’s better than last time.”

Sirius grinned, “Yeah, it’ll get better over time. So, Tom’s place is not far away. Just walk straight and take the first left turn. It should be a few blocks away. Anyway, I have to get going. Call me with the mirror when you’re done.”

POP

Harry started walking. When he reached the first intersection, he went left. He continued until he saw the Leaky Cauldron and went inside. He saw some customers inside and gave them a nod. He started looking around, but didn’t see Tom. Before he could ask any of the customers, one of them shouted. “TOM! HEY, TOM! Someone’s here for you.” Harry gave him a nod and then went to a barstool.

He saw Tom walking towards him in a brisk pace. “Hey.”

“Hello. What can I get you? Anything to drink?”

“Errr … No. Me and a couple of mates are going camping for a week. We need some prepared food.” He placed his trunk on the table and opened it. “Five of us. Could you prepare enough food to last us?”

“Shame, innit? Going camping but using prepared food only?” Tom grinned.

“Nah, we got unprepared stuff too. Just in case we are too tired or forget to cook. You know how it is.” Harry took out a wooden box. It was heavily decorated on one side. 

“Don’t worry, I get it. You going to store it in that?” He studied the box for a moment.

“Yeah. Got some preservation charms on it, one of my friends borrowed it from his mum.”

“So, how much do you need?” Tom started cleaning the glasses on his side.

“Not sure… Enough to feed 5 for a week once a day? So around 35 meals? How much would that cost?”

“Hmm, do you want some drinks with that? Butterbeer? Pumpkin juice? Maybe some tonic water? Firewhiskey?” Tom winked.

“Errr... Butterbeer sounds fine, thanks. So, how much?”

“Let’s see… that’s 35 meals, plus, 1, 2 cases of butterbeer? That’ll be around 15 Galleons. You sure you got that?” He looked concerned. “Hmmm, make that 16 Galleons.”

“Yeah, I have enough. How long will it take? I still need to get some things from Diagon Alley, so I can leave the box here and come pick it up when I’m done.” He closed his trunk.

“Well, we’re not busy during the morning, especially since the Hogwarts crowd aint here yet. Maybe an hour?” Tom stopped cleaning glasses. “And you sure you got 16 Galleons? Isn’t the cheapest, you know? You sure you don’t want to just get ingredients and prepare them when you’re camping?” He peered into Harry’s eyes.

“Yeah. Ermm… Fred’s dad insisted that we get some prepared food, you know? Said he was worried we would forget to cook and then not eat enough.” He tried looking sheepish for a moment. “Gave us some extra money.”

“All right then. Well, I better get started then. I’ll be done in less than an hour.”

“Good. I’ll be going then, I guess.” Harry got up and started walking to the back.

When he got to the gate to Diagon Alley, he pressed his wand to the correct brick and it opened up.

He went to Gringotts first. He saw several rows of people and went to the shortest. Eventually, it was his turn.

“Morning. What do you need?” The goblin asked, never stopping to write things down.

“I need to convert some Galleons to Pounds. Do I do that here?” Harry shuffled around a bit, looking uncertain.

“Yes. 30 pounds per Galleon. How much do you want to convert?” The goblin asked.

“One moment,” Harry took one of the credit papers from his pouch. Suddenly, he started looking sheepish. “Errr… Can I lend your quill for a moment?”

“Sure.” The goblin handed over a quill to Harry.

He started writing 400G on it, and made a motion like he was signing it. He then handed it over to the goblin.

“That’ll be twelve thousand pounds. One moment.” The goblin called someone over and started talking to her, but Harry couldn’t understand a word. She walked away quickly and came back a couple minutes later with a bundle of money.

The goblin took it, and handed it over to Harry, who started counting it.

“You don’t trust us, boy?” Harry didn’t know the goblin could look that scary.

“Eh.” Harry clammed up. It took a few moments before he replied. “Eh, I trust you. But we’re only huma– people, right? We can make mistakes, right? Better to make sure now than later and find out I got too much or too little.” He chuckled nervously.

“Good. You got some common sense in you, boy.” The goblin gave a nod, but still looked surly.

After a few minutes, Harry was done. “Everything is in order. Well, that’s it, I guess.”

The goblin replied. “Good. So, unless you need something else…” “No, that was all.”

“Ok, NEXT.” Harry started walking away. When he was outside, he let out a sigh in relief.

He started walking towards Flourish and Blots, thinking that the sleeping bag would be the quickest to get. He spotted the correct shop when he was almost there. The Wizarding Outdoors. He went inside to the counter, and as soon as the shopkeeper saw him, he greeted him.

“Hello, I’m Greg, and we have everything you need for staying outdoors. What do you need? A tent? A cooling box? A preserving one? A portable potty? A -”

“Just a sleeping bag, thanks.” Harry interrupted him. “You got those?”

“Oh boy, do we? We have several versions. The extra deluxe one, it’s simply the best one out there. It can warm up on cold nights, and cool down on hot nights. It’s the most comfortable sleeping bag you can find. It even has a massaging feature, for muscle soreness you get when you go hiking. It can even resize for 2 people, if you know what I-”

“No thanks,” Harry interrupted the grinning wizard, blushing a bit. “A normal one will do just fine.”

“Ahh, the frugal shopper, I see. Well, that’s just a Muggle sleeping bag that regulates temperature, you know? You sure you don’t want a better one? You only buy one once, so it’s all right to splurge a bit, you know.” Greg was frowning.

“Yeah, that’s all right. Don’t have too much saved up for the trip, you see?” Harry replied.

“Ok. That’ll be 1 Galleon and 2 Sickles.” Greg said, grinning again. “Lemme get one for you. Any specific color you want? We got grey, black, brown, blue, green-”

“A grey one is fine.” It didn’t really matter, as long as he could sleep in it. Harry was rummaging through his pouch and retrieved a letter of credit. He wrote the amount on it and waited for Greg.

When Greg came back, he said “Here you go. That’ll be 1 Galleon and 2 Sickles, unless you need something else.” Harry shook his head and handed over the letter, which Greg signed. “Nah, this is everything I need.”

“Ok, have a good day, lad.”

Eventually, Harry came outside after placing the bag in his trunk. He started walking towards Madame Malkin’s shop.

Inside, he found her, busy sorting some rolls of cloth.

“Madame Malkin? I need some new shoes, and a friend said to ask you where I can get them.”

She turned around. “Well, hello dear. Well, you can go to Twillfits, but since you’re still young and your feet still grow, it’s not worth it to spend that much money on shoes.” She glanced at his clothes. “Scintillating Shoes is much cheaper for the same quality. You know where that is?”

“Err, not really. Don’t think I’ve seen that in Diagon Alley.” He laughed nervously.

“Oh, Muggleborn, are you? You walk past Eeylops Emporium and take a right turn into Vertic Alley. It should be right around the corner.”

“Thanks, madame Malkin. I’ll go check it out.” “No problem, dearie. Do you need anything from here? It’s a good idea to go clothes shopping before the Hogwarts letters get sent out. Much less hustle and bustle, you know.”

“No, thanks. I already planned to do my shopping when the letters arrive.” Harry said, disappointing madam Malkin. He didn’t want Sirius to wait too long for him.

“I’ll see you then, I guess. If you go to Scintillating shoes, tell him Glenda sent you.”

“Ok, I’ll do that. Thanks for the help, bye.” Harry walked out quickly.

He browsed the streets till he was in front of Scintillating Shoes. He frowned. The shop looked very run down. There was mold on the walls. He hesitantly stepped inside.

It was much, much better inside, although a bit cramped. He saw the shopkeeper, who nodded towards him.

“Morning, Welcome to Scintillating Shoes, we have footwear for all occasions. What can I help you with?”

“Hey,” Harry answered. “Madame Malkin said you sell high quality shoes?”

“Yep, high quality at an affordable price. What do you need? School shoes? I’m Cuthbert by the way.” The now named Cuthbert grinned.

“I need some sturdy shoes for hiking. Do you have those?” Harry asked.

“Of course, I do, otherwise I wouldn’t be selling shoes for all occasions, init? What color do you want? Lemme grab some models from the catalog, feel free to sit down on the bench.” Cuthbert pointed towards a bench with a big mirror in front.

Harry sat down, looking at himself in the mirror. He hadn’t seen his face since he wore the bracelet. His eyes looked a bit dull. He looked closer. They were dark brown. But the biggest change was his hair. It was brown, and looked longer. Bangs covered a large part of his forehead. Well, the mirror showed that, he could feel that there were no such bangs. He was just about to get up to look even closer, when he heard Cuthbert return. 

“Got these models, you just pick a model and a size, and I’ll resize one of them for you. What size did you say that you wore again?” He placed the shoes in front of Harry.

“Err, size 6, I think. These shoes are, uhh …” He took of one of his shoes to check the size “6 and a half, but they’re a bit large. And just black ones are fine.”

“Ok, one size 6. They have charms on them which resize up to a half size up and down. Can’t do bigger resizes, otherwise I’d go out of business, these shoes last forever.” Cuthbert chuckled.

Harry looked at the shoes. They all kinda looked the same. He pointed at the 2nd from the left. “That one looks all right. Can I fit it to see if it’s comfortable?”

“Sure.” He gave them to Harry. “Just put them on and I’ll resize them.” When Harry was done, Cuthbert pointed his wand at the shoes and said something unintelligible. Harry felt the shoes getting a bit tighter. He looked down, and saw that they were black now.

“Ok, run around the shop a bit, see if they’re comfortable. Although, I doubt that they won’t be.” He pointed his wand at the remaining shoes and they flew into a small room.

Harry ran, and soon started smiling. These had to be the most comfortable shoes he ever tried on. “Wow. These are the most comfortable shoes ever.”

“Thanks, lad. I know. So, satisfied?”

“Yeah.” Very.

“Ok. These are the base model. They resize a bit up and down, and they have temperature control charms in them. And extra charms for comfort. We can add a charm to vanish sweat, those are good for hiking. We can also make it so you never have to clean ‘em, but that’s a bit pricy.”

“Ok, I guess I’ll add the one that vanishes sweat. How much would that cost extra?” Harry asked.

“A Galleon. Oh, and you’ll need a cleaner and a dirt repeller if you’re going to use them for hiking. That’s pretty cheap, 10 Sickles together.”

“Sure, add those too. How often do I use them?”

“Well, normally, you’d use them both every month or if you notice them getting dirty. If you’re hiking, I recommend using them before you do so each time.”

“Thanks, how much will it be together?”

“4 Galleons, 8 Sickles and 3 Knuts.”

“Hey, do you sell shoes you wear everyday too? I’m definitely coming back another day, if those are as comfortable as these.” He took out a letter of credit from his pouch. He grimaced. He really should’ve stopped to get a quill. “And can I lend a quill? Forgot to bring one.”

“Sure, lemme grab one. And I told you, didn’t I? We sell shoes for all occasions.” He went to get a quill. When he came back, he gave it to Harry, who wrote the amount owed.

“Here you go, thanks for the help.” Harry said. “Oh, before I forget, I was wondering why the outside of your shop looked so run down.”

The shopkeeper grimaced. “Well, I can’t afford the rent in Diagon, so I have to rent here. And my target market being what it is,” He glanced at Harry’s clothes. “Mostly Muggleborns and the occasional pureblood wizard with not much money to his name, having the shop here is unfortunate. The professors rarely shop outside Diagon when they bring Muggleborns, maybe in frug alley if the Muggleborn in question doesn’t have a lot of money. So I make less money than I could, given the quality I sell. Repairing outside would take a lot of money, and I’m saving up to move to Diagon one day.”

“I see. Well, good luck then, I hope you manage to move one day.” Harry said. Cuthbert certainly deserved it, with how comfortable these were.

“Thanks. I hope so too. See you around, then.”

Harry exited the shop. He had everything he needed on the wizarding side. He took out his mirror and called Sirius.

“Padfoot, hey Padfoot?” He waited a few seconds, and then Sirius’ face appeared in the mirror. His hair was frazzled and there was some soot on his face. “Hey Harry, done shopping?”

“Yeah, I’m going to the place you dropped me off. What happened to your face?” Harry asked, his eyebrows rising.

“Ehh, a bit of an accident. Trying to make some emergency portkeys in case we get spotted or something. Don’t worry, everything is fine now, and I didn’t get injured.”

“I see? What is a potkey?” Harry asked. “A portkey, not a potkey. It’s another way to travel, much easier to use when you need to transport a group, and much easier to use in dangerous situations. Don’t have to concentrate like you do with apparition.”

“Ahh, all right. Anyway, I’ll be at the spot in 10 minutes.” The mirror turned back to normal, he could see his own face on it again. After placing it in his pouch, he started walking quickly. He walked past madam Malkin’s shop and gave her a nod. He kept on walking till he reached the Leaky Cauldron.

Tom was behind the counter this time. Handing a glass of butterbeer to someone. He waited for Tom to finish, before he said something. “Hey, Tom. You finished with the meals?” “Yeah, the box is in the kitchen. Let me get it for you.” Tom started walking away. He came back carrying the box Harry gave him earlier.

Harry took one letter of credit. He was just about to ask Tom for a quill when he spotted one on the counter. He asked Tom what the total amount would be. “16 Galleons.”

The man drinking his beer choked and started coughing. Harry wrote out the correct amount on the credit letter and handed it to Tom. “Everything in order?” He asked. After glancing at the parchment, Tom replied. “Yeah. Hey, I added a bonus for you. Don’t use it all by yourself, will you?”

“Ehh, Sure. What is it?” Harry asked, while placing his trunk on the counter. “You’ll see,” Tom grinned. “Just don’t check it in front of your parents. It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

Harry placed the box inside his trunk and closed it. He was going to check it as soon as he was back at Grimmauld place. “Thanks, I guess. Anyway, I got to be going, my friend’s dad is waiting for me. Thanks for doing this on such short notice.”

“Wasn’t a problem. But next time, try to ask in advance, yeah? We’re not so quiet every day.”

“I’ll do that.” Harry took the trunk and started going outside. He walked the same path he did to go to the Cauldron. A bit quicker this time around. Eventually, he spotted Padfoot. The dog looked around, and seeing no one around, he transformed back into Sirius.

“Hey, Harry. Got everything?” He asked. Harry replied affirmative. “Ok, then let’s bring the trunk to Grimmauld, and we’ll go shopping on the Muggle side after.” He took Harry’s hand. “Brace yourself.” In a blink of an eye, they disappeared.

Only to reappear before Grimmauld Place. They went inside and eventually reached the kitchen.

“Take out what you bought; we’ll repack everything later. One moment-” Sirius left the kitchen. Harry removed the sleeping bag and his boots from the trunk. He was considering wearing the boots now, since they were much more comfortable. And, if he had to admit it to himself, much nicer looking than the hand me down from Dudley. Sirius reappeared and placed a ring and a passport on the table. It was small, silver band with no decoration. “Wear this,” Sirius said. “It’s a voice activated portkey. The activation phrase is Walburga is lovely.” He did his best to contain his face. “Walbu-” “Don’t say it now, it’ll transport you. Say it if we ever get spotted or if we need to make a quick exit.”

Harry took the ring and placed it around his finger. “Thanks. Why that phrase, though?”

“Well, Walburga is my mother’s name, and I doubt I’ll ever call her lovely. We don’t want something we can accidentally say in a conversation.”

“Well, I was going to do this tonight, but I think we should think about our cover story. So we don’t say different things when we talk to people. Can you think of a name? A name that’s different from Harry, but something you’ll react to.”

“Err…” Harry paused. “Ron? I think I’d react if someone called Ron, because he’s usually around. He was with me the night you escaped with Buckbeak.”

“Hmm, sounds good. I guess that I’ll go by… Remus then,” He gained an undecipherable face for a moment. “for similar reasons. Remus Padfoot, doesn’t sound too bad. You’ll be Ron Padfoot, then.” He started chuckling. “Better get used to it, Ron.”

“Ok, … Remus. Hmmm, you think this’ll mess with us, when we’re around Ron and Remus?” Harry bit his lip.

“A bit, maybe. You might react a bit stronger to the name, but it’ll go away soon. Anyway, we still need to decide on a back story. I can say that I’m a mechanic who works on bicycles. I enchanted one to fly, and I had to learn how everything worked, so I can fib about if needed.”

“And me? Just a student sounds fine, right?” “Yeah. So, here’s what I’m thinking; I’m your uncle, and your parents are the Dursleys. I know what they look like and a little about how they behave.”

Harry pulled a face. “Don’t we have other options?”

“Well, unless you know a family we both know, not really.” Sirius shrugged. “It’s not like it’ll come up often, and we’re just pretending.” Sirius took his wand and pointed it at the passport. The passport glowed for a few seconds. “I charmed it to Ron Padfoot. Keep that on you at all times.”

“All right, then. I’ll try to keep that in mind.” Harry took the passport and added it to his pouch.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going. Can I have the Muggle money?” Harry took out the letters of credit and the bundle of money. When he handed it over, Sirius stopped for a moment. “Hmmm, you should keep the credit letters, never know when you might need it. Use it for emergencies and stuff. And some Muggle money would be good too.” He returned the credit letters and a few bills.

After Harry placed them back into his pouch, he went to grab his trunk. “Nah, leave it here. I just thought of something – It’ll look weird if we travel with our trunks every time. Especially you. Better to buy some bags too, so we can place the items in there.”

“That makes sense. It would be easier to walk with one too.”

They both went outside, and then apparated away. Only to reappear in an abandoned street.

“An Asda should be nearby; they should have everything we need.” Sirius took the lead and started walking. When they got inside, Sirius took a basket and gave it to Harry. “Go find the clothing section and select some of everything. I’ll go grab some toilet paper and meet you there.”

Harry looked around, till he saw the correct section. He browsed around, and was a bit overwhelmed. He’d never saw such variety, and he never went clothes shopping. He usually just got Dudley’s old clothes. He placed a couple of shirts that looked like they’d fit him in the basket. Sirius returned and did the same for the toilet paper he had with him. He looked at what was already in there. “Pick some brighter colors too. Grey, black and dark blue fit with almost everything, yes, but some brighter colors are nice too.” Harry looked around and picked a couple brightly colored shirts, and placed them in the basket. “Don’t forget to check if they fit, they should fall a couple inches below your belt. Some jeans and shorts too. While you’re at it, some underwear and socks as well. I’ll get another basket, need to get some for myself too.”

Sirius went to grab another basket and started looking around while Harry was selecting stuff. After he was done with the clothes, he went to grab 2 bags and wallets. He returned to see Harry coming out of a fitting room. “I went and got bags and wallets too. Did you get everything, and do they fit?” When Harry nodded, he continued. “It might be a bit strange that we got so much stuff. If the cashier mentions something, we’ll say that someone robbed us, all right?” Harry nodded again.

They finished checking out without a problem and returned to Grimmauld place. They packed their trunks and bags, discussing Sirius’ immediate plans. They ate one of Tom’s meals and talked till it was late. Eventually, Sirius yawned. After a quick Tempus, his eyes widened. “Damn, time flies when you’re having fun. I guess we’ll go to bed now. Wait. Before I forget-” He went to the kitchen only to return with a potion vial. “This is the Dutch language potion. Take it before you get to bed. It’ll give you a splitting headache but it’ll get better after a day or 2. Good night, Harry.”

When Harry reached his room, he drank the potion. After a few seconds, he dropped the vial and clutched his head. “Damn. Sirius wasn’t kidding. This really hurts.” He groaned and went to bed. After a while, he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All right, this is my first story. I’d love to get some feedback on it, so please review. My initial thoughts are that while I feel that my sentences are mostly grammatically correct, they have a certain choppiness to them. They don’t “flow”. I can’t lay my finger on it, and I hope that’s just something that I’ll get better at over time.
> 
> Besides that, I’m having trouble with transitions. Going from scene to scene. For example, I have no idea how I should transition from the conversation in Harry’s room to the kitchen with Petunia. I’ll have to look into that.
> 
> And my final problem seems to be pacing. Well, “problem”. I’m not certain what should be a scene and what should just be a narrative summary.
> 
> It might not be noticeable, but English isn’t my first language. While I like to think that it’s good enough to communicate with others and to understand technical texts, it’s definitely not at a level I’m comfortable writing stories with.
> 
> Also, I’d love to have a proofreader. Mostly for stylistic purposes to address the issues I mentioned, and just someone I can bounce ideas off. 
> 
> And lastly, I’ll try to update at least every 2 weeks. This chapter took a little less than 2 weeks, and that included background research and outlining the plot. So the next one should take less time, hopefully.


	2. Chapter 2

_July 1 st, Grimmauld place_

Harry woke up with a pounding headache. He looked around, noticing his surroundings. Strange, this wasn’t his room. It took a few moments before he remembered that he was at Grimmauld place. He heard some sounds coming from below. Reasoning that it was Sirius, he went to the bathroom. He took a warm bath. It didn’t help his headache at all. When he got downstairs, he found Sirius in the kitchen, scrambling some eggs.

“Good. You’re up early,” Sirius flipped the pan. “I was going to wake you after I was done. Slept well?”

“I think so. My head hurts.” Harry went to grab a chair.

“Yeah, I warned you, didn’t I?” He sprinkled some salt on the eggs. “It’ll keep hurting less and less, and it’ll be gone in a few days. First time is always the most painful.”

“Can’t I take a pain reliever or something?” Harry asked. He wasn’t looking forward to this.

“No magical ones, at least. Can’t use most magic involving your body, so no other potions. The Muggle ones might work.” Sirius turned off the stove. “Not much, though. Used them once, when Lily didn’t have anything else. I barely noticed its effect.”

“Anything to help this.” Harry said.

“We’ll buy something in the Dutch Republic,” Sirius went to sit down besides Harry, bringing the eggs with him. “Shops will be open there, it’s barely 7 here.” He moved a plate with eggs over to Harry. “Here, a full stomach can’t hurt any.”

Harry started eating the eggs. They were all right, a bit under salted. “When are we going?”

Sirius took his time chewing. “After we’re done eating. So, finish up.”

They were both finished after 10 minutes. After Sirius cleaned the plates, he looked at Harry. “Go grab your things. We’re going.” Sirius walked to his bedroom, only to return with an empty plastic bottle. He grabbed his bag and trunk. “Here, touch this. Hold on to your trunk.”

“Orange-”

They disappeared, only to reappear in a small street. and Harry had to take a few seconds to steady himself. He dry heaved a few times. “This is worse than apparition.” He said.

Sirius looked at him. “Yeah. And I bet the potion didn’t help any. But it’ll get better after a few times too.”

Sirius waited a few minutes, observing his surroundings. “Merlin. I barely recognize anything from last time.”

“You’ve been here before?” Harry questioned. “Yeah. A long time ago. Follow me.”

They started walking. Harry looked around, taking in the unfamiliar sights. “The houses looked a lot more cramped here.”

“That’s just because you didn’t grow up in the capital. A lot less space and a lot more people here.” Sirius replied. “and a whole lot more cars than I remember.”

They continued walking. Eventually, Sirius stopped for a moment. “Hmmm. I think I see the hotel I stayed at, once. Look, there.” He pointed at a small building and started walking faster. Harry did the same. “Hey, Ron, remember our background?”

“Yeah, uncle Remus. You’re a mechanic, and you’re taking a vacation with me. And my parents couldn’t come because something came up.” “Excellent.”

Eventually, they reached the hotel. Sirius booked 2 rooms next to each other for a week. Sirius asked for some painkillers for Harry at the receptionist. After they checked in and stored their luggage, they met again downstairs.

“Next up, we’re going to visit a healer. And after that, somewhere fun.” They started walking.

“Sounds great.” Harry said, feeling that he couldn’t contribute a whole lot to the conversation. Eventually, Sirius stopped. “Ok, no one’s around. We’re going to apparate again.” He grabbed Harry’s hand and apparated away.

They reappeared in front of an unassuming building. It didn’t look that different from the others surrounding it. Sirius knocked on the door. “Hey Patrick. Patrick, you there?” He continued knocking in a rapid pace. “Got an appointment for today.”

This continued for a few minutes, until they heard footsteps. An old man opened the door. His hair was greying, and his face was wrinkled. “Come in,” He said. “I cleared my morning for you.” He closed the door after they got in. They walked through the hallway until they got to the waiting room. Everything looked pristine. The building was lit with clear white lights. He chatted a bit with Sirius before looking at Harry. “You can wait here. It’ll take a while.”

He took Sirius to a separate room. Pointed to a chair. “Sit, and remove the glamour.” Sirius looked up hesitantly. “Do I have to?”

“Yeah. It can interfere with my spellcasting. And I know who you are. Not like it’s hard to figure out who my client is, Sirius.” Sirius’ eyes widened, and he pulled out his wand.

“Easy, easy there. I still cleared my morning for you, didn’t I?” Patrick leaned on his desk, waiting for Sirius to lower his wand. “Not many cases of Dementor exposure, and even less for long term exposure like you described.”

Sirius lowered his wand. “All right.” Removed his bracelet after that. A felt a faint air current going through his hair.

Patrick’s eyes roved over Sirius’ body. He pulled out his wand. Started casting several spells rapidly. His facial expressions didn’t betray anything. Sirius just sat there, fidgeting. Finally, Patrick stopped. He started asking questions.

“How are you sleeping? Having any nightmares?”

“Yeah, every couple of nights. I sleep fine, mostly.”

“Do they wake you up?” “Sometimes. If it’s a really intense one.” Sirius fidgeted with his wand.

“What are they about? Azkaban? Other unpleasant memories?”

“Mostly Azkaban. When they threw me in.” Sirius said.

“And your memories?” Patrick’s face softened. “Are you –”

Sirius got up. “Yeah …” He started pacing the room. “I know I’m missing quite a few of them.” He smacked his lips together a few times. “My life can’t have been this shitty, right?” He looked unsure.

“Probably not,” Patrick said. “I’ve treated a couple cases of Dementor exposure. They’ll come back eventually. You remember some happy occasions?”

Sirius stopped. “A couple. I got a few of them back. I can probably count them, that’s how few they are, though.”

“Yeah, that’s how it works.” Patrick scribbled something on a piece of parchment. “At first, you’ll get some. It starts slow, but they’ll come back faster and faster, like an avalanche. We can speed up the process a bit with a recall potion.”

Sirius went back to sit on the chair. Let out a small sigh. “That would be helpful.”

“Any panic attacks since you escaped?” Patrick asked.

“Trice. Not in the beginning, pretty recent, actually.” Sirius said. “I’m starting to realize how crappy the situation is. I think that I just wasn’t in the right state of mind to let the situation sink in.”

Patrick stared intently at Sirius. “Do you … Are you suicidal?”

“What –” Sirius looked away. “at the start, I had this goal. Didn’t care what happened to me after that, as long as I reached it. It’s better now, I think.”

Patrick nodded. “Good, good. Why is that?”

“Things are different now.” Sirius gave a weak smile. “Got someone that depends on me.”

“That’s encouraging. Although you want to live for you, not others. Do you have difficulty getting out of bed, don’t want to get up in the morning?”

Sirius shook his head. “Not really. Like I mentioned, I had a goal. I was pretty single minded about it. Got me up every morning. And now … now, the planning required to come here helped.”

Patrick made another scribble on the parchment. “Hmmm. I can imagine that it can be hard to do, with your status as a fugitive. But have you met with any friends?”

“Yeah.” Sirius frowned. “I met up with 2 old friends.”

“And,” Patrick said. “How did that go? Did you confide in them?”

“Errrr …” Sirius crossed his arms. “They made me angry. One betrayed me, framed me. And I’m mad at the other. Didn’t bother looking into the story. Believed all that hogwash.”

Patrick scribbled something again. “All right. I’m assuming you don’t want to regularly meet up with me?”

“Unless I really need to, not really.” Sirius thought for a moment. “Unless something goes wrong, I prefer not to.”

“All right. I’d recommend it, but there are things you can do instead of regular appointments here.” Patrick said. “First of, I’ll give you enough recall potions to last a month. Take them at night, before you go to sleep. If you still don’t have most of your memories, come back. I’d prefer to check up on you if possible. I’ll give you 10 calming draughts too, for when you have a panic attack.”

Patrick paused, trying to put his thoughts in order. “Meet up with your friend, if possible... Well, the one that didn’t frame you. Talk to him, confide in him. Meet new people. When you regain your memories of things you enjoyed doing, start doing them. Make new happy memories. Stuff like that.”

“And my body?” Sirius asked.

“Hmmm, your weight is below that of a man of your height. And I detected that you’re deficient in some vitamins and minerals. I can give you some potions to help with the deficiencies, but you have to start eating more. 3 main meals, and lots of snacks in-between. And have some variety. Lots of greens.”

“That sounds reasonable. How soon will those deficiencies go away?” Sirius asked.

“You’ll need to take the potions after every main meal, and they should be gone in a week,” Patrick said. “And you need to gain weight, at least 10 kilograms. 15 would be better.”

“All right,” Sirius said. “Anything else?”

“Oh wait. A purging potion would be a good idea too. Take it as soon as you can. I unfortunately don’t have any here, so you’ll have to buy one. You can buy them at Fantastische Mengsels at magiestraat,” Patrick said. “There are some side effects. The potion temporarily makes your body’s waste disposal systems more active. Diarrhea, your sweat will smell something awful, you’ll be urinating excessively. Drink a lot of water. Better yet, bring a bottle of water with you to the toilet. You’ll need it.”

Sirius swallowed. “Is it really necessary?”

“Well, we don’t have good spells to detect nonmagical harmful substances in your body.” Patrick frowned. “Well, besides common poisons. And I don’t know if you got any during your stay at Azkaban.”

“Well, if there’s nothing else –”

Patrick casted something and several potion vials floated from a cupboard to his desk. Some of them contained a blue liquid, some of them red, but most of them were colored brown. “Well, payment, of course.” he said. “It’ll be thirteen hundred Galleons.”

Sirius’ eyes widened a bit. “That’s … that’s not cheap.”

“Did you think that coming to a healer that helped criminals would be? You’re paying for my discretion,” The healer chuckled a bit. “Plus, a safety net in case I get caught. You can afford it, right?” His features hardened.

“Of course, of course,” Sirius placated the man. “I was just surprised.”

Sirius took out his credit book and tore off a leaf. He rummaged around in his pouch and found a quill. Quickly signed it and handed it to Patrick, who tapped it with his wand and nodded.

“Everything seems in order.” Patrick said. “take the potions. And remember, a calming draught in case you have a panic attack – that’s the blue one – and the recall potion before you go to sleep. And the supplements – the red ones – before your main meals.”

Sirius nodded and started placing the vials in his pouch. After that was done, he went outside.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Harry was leaving through a comic book. There was a table with books and magazines nearby, but they were in Dutch, and he couldn’t understand them. The scenes were well drawn and interesting, but they didn’t take his mind off from Sirius. Suddenly, the door opened. He looked up and saw Sirius exiting. He grinned. “Good news?”

Sirius nodded. “Mostly, yes. Just need to eat healthy and drink these potions.”

“That’s good to hear.” He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “So, where to next?”

“I need to pick something up from the apothecary. We need to visit the wizarding side here.” Sirius hesitated. “Hey, would you be all right browsing there alone for a few hours?”

“Why?” Harry asked.

“I need to drink one of the potions as soon as possible, and it’ll have some … uncomfortable side effects.” Sirius grimaced. “I’ll be stuck at the loo for a few hours.”

“Oh.” Harry said, trying to keep a blank face. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Hey, don’t worry, I don’t think anyone will be looking for us here.” He tried to grin. “And some exploring on your own will do you good. You need to talk Dutch so the language potion does its job.”

“Oh, yeah, about that.” Harry pointed at the table containing books “I couldn’t understand a lick of it. Are you sure the potion worked right?”

“Yeah, that’s how it works. I’m not sure if you noticed, but I’m talking Dutch to you and you’re replying in a mix of Dutch and English. The more you get exposed to it the first few days, the better your Dutch will get. Understanding written word lags behind a bit.”

“I see.” This reassured Harry a bit.

“So, let’s get going. Hold my hand tight.”

Harry grabbed Sirius and they disappeared. Only to reappear in an alley.

“Well, welcome to Magiestraat.” Sirius said. “The center of magic business in the Dutch Republic.”

Harry looked around. The buildings looked a lot newer compared to Diagon alley. Neat buildings with firebrick walls, with some greens, browns and reds thrown in. “It looks nice. Newer, neater.”

“Yeah. The Portuguese destroyed the old shopping district around seventeen hundred. They built a new one here.” Sirius started walking. “Ours is much older, at least 4 centuries older, if I remember right.”

“That’s interesting. And we never rebuilt?” Harry followed behind. There weren’t many people around, but those that passed them greeted them politely.

“Hey, don’t fix what isn’t broken, heh?” Sirius replied. “The apothecary is just ahead”

When they reached their correct destination, they went in. Sirius got his potion and they came out again. “We need to go to Gringotts too. Need to give you some spending money, so you can keep the credit letters for emergencies.”

“I have my own money too, you know?” Harry said. “I don’t want to be a burden.”

“Ah, bollocks. I should’ve been the one taking care of you,” Sirius got a faraway look in his eyes. “That’s what a godfather is for, you know. Besides, I’m loaded.” He gave a watery smile. “That money will last me a lot of lifetimes if I don’t spend it like the Malfoys.”

“I see. I’d still feel better if I helped out.”

“You’re already helping. By just being here, I mean. If they’re looking for me, they’d be looking for a lone man, not a man with a child. Plus, the company isn’t too shabby.”

“Hey, I was wondering. How much do most people earn in the wizarding world?”

“Not sure, to be honest. Maybe 2 to 3 hundred Galleons a month?”

“Aaah. My only example is the Weasleys, and it seemed impolite to ask. I was wondering how much money I had, as in, uhhh… can I buy a house with it, stuff like that.”

“I know what you mean. I don’t know exactly how much you have, but you should be fine living frugally if you don’t get a job. Not sure about buying a house, though.” Sirius paused and the corners of his mouth turned up. “Maybe a tiny one.”

Eventually, they reached Gringotts. Sirius talked to the clerk this time. Sirius withdrew a hundred Galleons from his account and handed it to Harry. “I guess I should be going, then. If you get hungry, try out stoopwavels with ice cream. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Sirius hugged Harry for a moment and then popped away.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Harry wandered around till he saw a shop with some brooms on display. He was interested if they sold the same brooms in the Netherlands, so he went in. The brooms were mounted vertically to the wall, divided in sections. One was dedicated to what he assumed were cleaning supplies. He walked to one closest to him, and saw a placard. Apparently, the sections were for a single brand, and this one was for Nimbus brooms.

He admired the way they looked. They all had a dark brown finish, and the bristles were all arranged in an orderly fashion. Almost like a brush, he thought. A brush for a giant.

Someone coughed behind him, so he turned around. He saw a young man in a suit standing there.

“Hello.” Harry said.

“Good morning, are you intending to buy, or just browsing around?” The man arched his brow.

“Just browsing today, I guess,” Harry replied. “I already own a Firebolt, I’m just looking at the other options.”

“A seeker, then?” “How’d you guess?”

“Firebolts are favored among seekers, with their high acceleration and their small turning radius. Other positions have options that are better suited in that price range.”

“I see. What other options are there?” Harry said. “For seekers, I mean.”

“Well, Cleansweeps are pretty well liked among seekers. The acceleration curve is almost as fluid as Firebolts.” The man started walking towards the Cleansweep section and Harry followed. “A lot of professional players who used the X-10 switched over to Firebolts when it looked like Cleansweep wouldn’t release a new model this year.”

“Hmmm” Harry motioned the man to continue.

“It’s certainly a decent broom,” The man said. “A nice backup to have to your Firebolt, in case it gets damaged.”

“I’ll think about it,” Harry said. “How much does the X-10 cost?”

“600 Galleons.”

Harry winced. “I’d have to save up for a while.”

“Well, it’s cheaper than the Firebolt. Almost by half.”

Damn, Harry thought. Sirius sure went all out in getting his replacement broom.

“Yeah, I’ll consider it. What about other alternatives?”

“Well, we have the Nimbus 2002, they accelerate a bit faster than the 2000 model, and have a higher top speed.” They walked to where they started.

“Does it turn faster too? I really liked that about the Firebolt.”

“Well, the turning radius isn’t as small as the Firebolt, but it is smaller than the Nimbus 2000. We also have the Comet brooms, an even smaller radius compared to the Firebolt. But most seekers who like Firebolts don’t really like them. They have a certain kick to them. And they respond differently.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“Well, it’s a bit hard to explain. Take, for example, turning left. You need to lean a bit differently to take a turn. Compared to the Firebolt. It takes some getting used to.”

“I see,” Harry started smiling. It sounded interesting. “Could I test it out?”

“I’m afraid not. Well, at least not today. You’d have to make an appointment,” He rummaged in his pocket a bit before pulling out a card. “Here, we have a flying range in a less populated area.”

“Thanks,” Harry accepted the card. He looked at it. ‘Floo address: AQP stadium’ it read. “I’ll have to ask my uncle. I’ll be there if he does.”

“No problem, I look forward to seeing you there.”

“I was wondering… do you have any brooms that were made here? In the Netherlands, I mean?”

“Nimbus is a Dutch company,” The man said. “Other than that, we have a few small broom manufacturers. They don’t specialize in seeker brooms, though.”

“That’s all right.”

The man started walking the section in the back. “Well, we have the Silver Bullet, they focus on racing brooms. The newest model can reach speeds up to 250 km an hour. Not the fastest out there, but definitely in the top 3.” He pointed to the leftmost one. “Not a lot of comfort, or so I’m told.”

“It would be interesting to test this one too.”

The man winced. “Well, we don’t let people test these, normally. They’re really expensive.”

“That’s fine, I guess.” Harry tried to hide his disappointment, but the man could easily read it from his face.

“Maybe when you’re a repeat customer, we can talk about it.” The man said. “Well, other than that, we have the Annabelle. It’s a new company, only released one broom so far. It’s suited for new and casual flyers. It’s very comfortable, has a decent turn radius and average speed. Plus, it can turn invisible while flying. That’s about it, really.”

Harry was a bit disappointed. “That’s it?”

“Yeah, kid. Hey, you want to buy some gear to maintain your broom?”

“I already have a big tub of broom polish.”

“What about a comb for the bristles? To align them to their original position after a match.”

“Sure.” He felt a bit guilty for wasting the man’s time.

They talked a bit about the various combs offered, and Harry bought the recommended one for 7 Sickles. They exchanged goodbyes and Harry exited the shop.

Harry continued walking, looking at the various displays. He stopped at a watch shop, browsed around for a bit. He bought a small pocket watch for Ron. It could ring an alarm at different preset times, and it seemed pretty handy to have.

When he got outside, he noticed a shop across the street. He couldn’t guess what kind of shop it was. There were brooms, books, a cup and a variety of other items on display. ‘Helga’s Snuisterijen en tweedehandse spullen’ the board read. He still couldn’t understand written Dutch. He went in to sate his curiosity.

He walked to the first isle, which contained various knickknacks which wouldn’t look out of place in Dumbledore’s office. There were a lot of silver items, some of which emitted smoke, some which made sounds, and some of them just moved around. He picked up one that moved, and it made a loud BANG. He dropped it out of surprise. He quickly looked around before picking it up and putting it back, and then walked further.

He saw some sneakoscopes in various sizes. He wondered if size mattered, if it made it easier to detect threats. As soon as he came near them, the biggest one started whistling. And when he made one step closer, some of the smaller ones started doing the same. Well, question answered, he thought and quickly walked past. He wasn’t sure why they saw him as a treat, but he didn’t want others to think the same.

He saw windmills in various sizes, some of them emitting smoke. Those looked fun, so he picked up one of the smaller ones. Nothing happened. While he was definitely glad to not make any more ruckus, it was slightly disappointing. There was a price tag spellotaped to the windmill. It costed 4 Sickles. He placed it back. While pretty cheap, it didn’t seem useful. There were wooden clogs up ahead, but he ignored them. He did wonder if people actually used to wear them.

He went to the next aisle, where he saw books. He went to take a closer look, and saw that most of them were in Dutch. He thought about asking the shopkeeper for a recommendation later. He did see a couple of English titles, but none of them interested him.

Walking further, he saw some tea sets with some nice patterns on it. Most of them were white with blue decorations. Depicting scenery, people, or buildings. The ones with people were all animated. He picked up a teapot that had birds circling around. It wasn’t anything intricate, but it looked nice. He turned it around, searching for the price tag. 9 Sickles, nothing too expensive. He decided that it would make a nice gift for the Ms. Weasley.

He brought it to the counter. A girl was there, reading a book. She looked a bit older than him. She didn’t notice him, completely absorbed in her reading. “Hellooo,” he said.

The woman looked up in surprise. “Hey. Welcome to Helga’s knickknacks and secondhand items. I’m Emma, can I help you?”

Well, that solved the mystery of what this shop sold. “Yeah, I was wondering if I could leave this here, while I keep looking around.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Ok then. I’ll just place it here…” He placed it on the counter and started walking to another isle. He looked back, and saw that Emma was reading her book again.

The isle he stood in contained various glass orbs. The bigger ones looked like the ones he used in divination. He walked past those. He didn’t particularly enjoy the subject. There were small globes, which looked a bit like the one the Dursleys had in their cabinet.

The globes had small landscapes. They were all animated in some way. Some of them had snow falling, the grass moved in most of them, and one even had a deer prancing in the background. He picked that one up. The deer vaguely reminded him of his Patronus. The globe contained a tiny cottage with lilies in front of it. There was a forest behind the cottage, and he saw the deer running towards it. He wanted it. He looked for the price tag. He found it, and it was only 12 Sickles. He went to the counter and placed it there. Emma looked up for a moment, but continued reading right after that.

He walked back to the isle he was in, and looked further. Several of the orbs had some sort of whirlpool in them. He took one, mesmerized. The whirlpool was slowly rotating. No matter how he looked, it looked like it went on forever on the inside. He searched for the price tag, and quickly placed it back when he saw that the price was 10 Galleons. It was nice to look at, but had nothing else going for it.

The next isle contained several boxes. He looked over them, and saw pictures of old buildings. One of them read ‘Sint Servatius Basilica, 500 stuks’. He still wasn’t too sure what they were, but the price tag made him put it back. 12 Galleons.

There were several small plushies moving besides the boxes. Some dragons, unicorns, trolls and a three-headed dog. One of the dragons was tied down and flew in circles. They looked like they had seen better days.

He went to the next isle, which was the last one. It was full with telescopes. They didn’t interest him that much, so he walked back to the counter. The girl was still reading.

“Hey.” No response. “Hey.” He said, a bit louder this time.

The girl looked up. “Done shopping?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“That’ll be 1 Galleon and 6 Sickles.”

He took out some money, paid and placed the change back, together with the items he bought.

“Good book?” He asked.

“Huh?” Emma looked confused. “Oh, this? Yeah.”

“What’s it about?”

“Analyzing runic arrays with arithmancy, to find out what they do.”

Harry stared at her. He had no idea what that meant, besides knowing that there were classes with similar names. “What are those?” He asked. “I know we have arithmancy and ancient runes classes, but I don’t take them.”

“Really? But they’re so useful.” Emma said, gesturing wildly. “You can enchant stuff with runes. Make objects behave in certain ways. And arithmancy helps you with creating new arrays and spell creation.”

“Huh. That sounds interesting.” He wondered for a moment why no one told him that. Sounded a lot more useful than hearing he would die all the time.

“Yeah,” Emma said. “Don’t get me started on them. I could talk about them all day. Almost everything in the shop is made with runes, you know.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that. Makes me regret my choice in classes.”

“Which classes do you take? You go to Hogwarts, right?” Emma asked.

“How did you know?” He replied, a bit taken aback. “And I take care of magical creatures and divination.”

“Your accent sounds British. And that’s where British wizards go to, right?” Emma grinned. “You know, if you’re taking divination, you should consider arithmancy instead. Way more reliable.”

“I don’t really like divination, though.” Harry made a face. “My teacher keeps predicting the death of… one of my classmates. I mostly just picked it because one of my friends wanted to. Well, that and I heard it’s an easy class.”

Emma made an exasperated face. “Not very serious about school, are you? And I heard the same thing about divination. Well, not the predicting deaths of students, I think.”

“Well, while it being easy certainly helped, it’s mostly because my friend was going to take it. And with creatures, the teacher is my friend.”

“You know, that doesn’t tell me that you’re serious about school, right? Still, think about –”

Harry’s stomach growled. His face turned slightly red. “Ehh… sorry, guess I’m a bit hungry.”

Emma laughed at that. “Perfectly normal reaction, yeah? I was going to take a break too, after you were finished shopping here.”

Harry smiled awkwardly back. “Yeah –”

“Tell you what, lemme ask my mom to switch off with me, and we’ll grab some fries. What do you think?”

Harry thought for a moment. “Yeah, sure.”

“Great. Be right back.” She ran to another room. She returned moments late, with an older woman in tow.

“Come back in half an hour.” The woman said.

“Sure mom.” Emma replied, and then started walking to the door.

Harry followed her, and they walked to a pub. They talked a bit about different foods Harry should try out while he was staying here. They entered the shop, and Emma waved at the man behind the counter. Emma made an order for 2 fries with frikandel, and they talked while they waited. The man returned after a while, holding 2 paper cones filled with fries. A sausage was sticking out, skewered on a stick. He handed one to Emma and the other to Harry. Emma handed over some money, and they went and sat down at a table.

They ate in silence for a bit. Harry was enjoying his food.

“So, what’s Hogwarts like?”

Harry finished chewing. “What do you mean?”

“Dunno. How do you like the classes? How does Hogwarts look?”

“Oh. Hogwarts is beautiful. Especially when you see it from outside, at night. It really looks amazing, with the lights and all.” He took a bite of frikandel. “It’s a big castle. Lots of towers sticking out.”

“Like a Disney castle?”

Harry had to think for a moment to understand what Emma meant. “Yeah, felt a bit like that the first time I saw it.” He gained a wistful look.

“Sounds like it. I’m a bit jealous. Mine sounds dull in comparison.”

“How does yours look? Where do wizards from the Netherlands go?”

“We go to Van de Vos Academie. Well, not just from the Netherlands. Belgian people too.”

“Oh, didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, we also get a few from Germany. It looks a bit like… like Buckingham palace, but smaller.”

“So, do you get thought the same things I do?”

“Wouldn’t really know, would I?” Emma thought for a moment. “I can’t imagine we’re that different. I do know that our astronomy is a lot better than other countries. Ranked first in Europe, I think.”

“Oh? Do you like it?”

“Not really, I guess.” Emma took another bite, thinking for a bit. “But it’s useful to learn, though. It can affect rituals and certain potions.”

Harry made a face. “I don’t really like potions.” Well, he didn’t like being near Snape, he didn’t mind potions that much.

“Well, me neither. I figure, if I need something, the apothecary can do it much better, yeah?”

“I guess so.”

“So, what classes do you like?”

“Well, I really like creatures and defense.” He could do without the useless defense professors, though. He thought about it for a moment. “Charms is nice too, I guess.”

“Creatures? Cool. I wanted to take that too, but I was only allowed to pick two electives. What’s it like?”

“It’s pretty fun most of the time. Hagrid – that’s my teacher – always brings interesting animals to class. I rode a hippogriff once. I really liked that.”

“Awesome. I want to try that.” She had a longing look on her face.

“Yeah. And he had a small dragon for a while. A Norwegian Ridgeback.” He chuckled. “Funny story, actually. He won an egg in a card game, and raised it. But he had to give it to a reserve before it started breathing fire.”

“Awww. But that’s the awesome part.”

“Not if you live in a wooden house.” 

“I guess so. But that’s what enchantments are for, right? Could’ve fireproofed everything.”

“Yeah, but…” He looked around. He suddenly realized that maybe it wasn’t the best topic to talk about. He didn’t want to get Hagrid in any trouble. “it’s kinda illegal to own a dragon in England. So, don’t spread it around, ok?”

She grinned. “You got it. My lips are sealed.”

They continued chatting for a while about different animals until the topic of runes came up again. Emma started getting more animated about the various uses of them. She could indeed, like she mentioned earlier, talk about it all day. She was just explaining how her professor brought a flying carpet to class so they could analyze the arrays used, when she noticed her mum walking briskly to their table.

“Emily, weren’t you supposed to be back –” She looked at her wrist. “fifteen minutes ago?”

“Sorry mum, I lost track of time.” Emma scratched her hair. “Err… Can I stay for another five minutes?”

Her mother seemed to consider it. “No. He,” she pointed at Harry. “can come back to the shop with you, if he wants. I have other stuff to do, I can’t man the counter.”

So they all went back to the shop. They talked for a while, until harry heard a buzzing sound coming from his pouch. It turned out that Sirius was calling his mirror.

“Sorry, I have to take this.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Emma looked at him, intrigued.

He activated the mirror. “Hey, uncle Remus. Are you done yet?”

Sirius’ hair was wet. He’d just finished showering, Harry guessed.

“Yeah.” Sirius grimaced for a moment. “Finished ten minutes ago. I’ll pick you up at the apothecary from earlier in five, sound good?”

“Ok, I’ll be there.” The mirror deactivated, and Harry could see his own face.

“Oh god, you have a communications mirror?” Emma gushed. “I’ve never seen one of those. Can I check how it’s made?”

“Errr…” He didn’t really want to part with it. What if she accidentally broke it? “Maybe another time? I don’t know how long it would take you.”

Emma was clearly disappointed. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you find out how it’s made, then you can tell me about it?” She looked around, before she found what she was looking for. She grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote her name on it. “Name’s Emily van het Kruis. Heh, you know, you never told me your name.”

“It’s Ron.” He thought for a moment. He couldn’t tell her his name was Ron Padfoot, he wasn’t sure if he would get the letter if she sent an owl. “Ron Weasley, I mean. Not sure if I’ll be able to write soon, I’m traveling for a bit and I left my owl at home.”

“It’s all right, I can wait. Write me when you get home.”

They exchanged farewells, and Harry went to the apothecary.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sirius was already waiting for him when he got there. He asked about Harry’s day and joked about never touching a purging potion ever again. They went to the same pub Harry went to earlier, because Sirius was famished. Sirius ate three portions, while Harry had a butterbeer.

Sirius was finishing the remnants of his last portion. “So, I talked to the receptionist. She gave me some recommendations. Places to visit, things to try out. There’s a big zoo here, but I don’t think I’m up to going there today. We can visit a museum, what do you think?”

“Well, I’ve never been to one. I’m interested.”

“It’s called the Scheepvaartsmuseum. They have a lot of stuff related to seafaring. Old instruments that were used on ships, stuff like that.”

“Sounds great.”

They left soon after, apparating there. When they went in, the person at the ticket booth told them that it was too late to get a guided tour, but Sirius was all right with that. They walked around until they spotted a huge section of miniaturized ships. They were very intricately detailed, and there were a lot of them. There were a lot of different sailboats, interspersed with some more modern designs. Sirius mentioned that there was a lot of trade going on during the old times, and that a lot of wizards were involved before the Statue of Secrecy was established. He said that the Dutch wizards were excellent at weather and water control.

They walked through an exhibit showcasing various busts and statues from all over the world. Further along there was another exhibit showcasing various idols, totems and other items used in worship. Sirius mentioned that a lot of times, the religions of the New World were magical. That the priests often were wizards and witches. He talked about how the natives often had trouble battling European wizards and how a lot of cultures were destroyed.

They went to an exhibit showcasing spyglasses in various sizes. Sirius talked about how the inventor of the spyglass had been Dutch, but that most people attributed it to an Italian wizard who could create the lenses much faster. He also said that the Dutch wizards made a lot more improvements to the design after that because they observed the developments the Dutch Muggles were making a lot closer compared to other countries.

There were a lot of exhibits displaying other instruments and tools commonly used on ships. Sirius didn’t have a lot to say about those, because wizards weren’t involved in creating them as far as he knew. There was a lot of navigational equipment to look at.

Then they went to the painting exhibition. Sirius and Harry admired them in silence, until Harry remarked that they looked a lot better compared to what could be seen at Hogwarts. Sirius explained that a lot of the paintings at Hogwarts were works created by descendants of the founders, that they weren’t there because they were masterpieces. He did mention that Muggles had a lot more interesting art, partly because they faced more hardships, and partly because there were just that many more artists in the Muggle world.

They watched two documentaries after that, one about the spice trade and one about the Dutch royal family.

Harry noticed a workshop where they taught people to row a boat. He convinced Sirius to go, but they had to give up after a few minutes. Sirius’ arms started to hurt, not used to the strain and still a bit weak from his stay at Azkaban.

They went back to the documentaries after that. There were a lot of interesting ones, and Harry really enjoyed one that showed the sea from the captain’s point of view, while Sirius couldn’t stop talking about one showing how ships were constructed.

They visited a few other art exhibits, but eventually called it a day. Harry’s headache had gotten worse, and they were both hungry, so they went looking for a restaurant. They asked one of the guards in front of the museum, and he recommended one that was close by.

They sat down in a quiet corner after they arrived. Sirius gulped a supplement potion when no one was looking, and then signaled a waiter. They both got stamppot, which was mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables and meat, with a side dish of smoked sausage.

“This is the best tasting sausage I’ve had.” Harry said. “I wish we had these at Hogwarts.”

“They’re pretty good, I admit.” Sirius replied. “But I’ve had better in Germany.”

“Why have you been to so many places anyway?” He skewered a piece of sausage. “You also know a lot about Dutch wizards.”

“Well, you know how Muggles go to school as soon as they can?” He waited for Harry to nod. “Wizards don’t really have that. Some send their kids to Muggle schools, but most of them just get taught how to read and write at home, stuff like that.”

“Still doesn’t explain it, though.”

“I’ve explained how we’re an old, rich family, right?”

“Not really. Like the Malfoys?” Harry made a face.

Sirius laughed at that. “Yeah, not as rich, but similar. Anyway, my family was also obsessed with tradition. So I got taught a lot about our culture.”

Harry pondered about that for a moment. That didn’t really explain why Sirius had traveled so much. “And the travel?”

“I was supposed to be the head of my family. So it was expected of me that I also knew a lot about our businesses. Traveled to a few of them, they’re all over the place in Europe.”

“That sounds fun. I never really went anywhere with the Dursleys.”

“It was one of the upsides of my family. Being rich gives you lots of opportunities.”

“I guess so…”

“Lots of expectations too. And rules to follow.” Sirius gained a haunted look. “Had lots of fights with my family after I went to Hogwarts. They didn’t want me in Gryffindor, and I started going against blood purity.”

“What’s that about, anyways? I know Draco believes it, but I always dismissed him.”

“It’s a load of rubbish from paranoid old people. People complaining about how we’re losing our traditions because Muggleborns don’t follow them. That, and they think that they’re better than Muggleborns at magic.”

“Are they? Better at magic?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

Harry dropped his fork. “Really?”

“Yeah. But not because we have more magic or anything. It’s just that we grew up around magic, yeah?” Sirius made a wild gesture with his hand. “So we’ve seen more magic. We hear people talking about magic. It’s like, like,” Sirius paused for a moment, trying to find a good example. “Like motorbikes. You know what they are, you’ve seen them around since you’re young. But someone who doesn’t mingle with Muggles, they don’t know what they are and what they do.”

“But that doesn’t make me a better at riding them, though.”

“Maybe that was a bad example. Let me think of a better one.” He took another bite, thinking. “Hmm, take a television, or electricity. It’s normal for you, you know how it works, how to use it. Hell, I don’t know how electricity works, and I’ve spent more time with Muggles compared to most purebloods.”

“That makes sense. So purebloods don’t like Muggles and Muggleborns because we’re not following traditions and because they’re better at magic?”

“Not only that, though. Before we separated from the Muggles, we lived a lot better compared to them, yeah? Then the Statue of Secrecy happened. And since we didn’t interact with them, we didn’t see their progress. I think most purebloods still believe that most Muggles are farmers, actually.”

Harry toyed with a piece of food, frowning. “Doesn’t the ministry know?”

“Yeah, to an extent. But do you think that stuffy people like that work at the ministry? It’s mostly old and rich families who believe that crap, and they don’t work at the ministry if they can help it. Doesn’t pay enough.” He took a gulp of water. “Well, unless you count the Wizengamot.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s the part of the ministry that passes laws. Like the Parliament of England.” He laughed. “They also convict criminals.”

“What’s so funny about that?” Harry gave him a look.

“Just thinking about the irony, I was going to be a part of it. And instead, I got chucked into Azkaban without even seeing them.” He sobered up after that. 

The conversation became a little stilted after the exchange. Sirius ordered some pancakes, and they went back to the hotel after they were done. They both went to bed early, tired from their earlier activities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, let me start of by saying that if there are any mental health professionals here, or those suffering from PTSD. I looked at the symptoms and made some guesses on how it would be treated in a traditional society, the treatment differs in reality. If you do suffer from it or any other mental health problems, go see a professional if you have the resources. While they don’t have magical cure-alls, they do have stuff that works.  
> On to less serious matters.   
> It’s a shame I have to write the story just after PoA, but it’s the only timeframe that makes sense if I want to include Sirius. After 4th year wouldn’t work because Voldemort came back, and you can’t really have a fun vacation with such a big threat looming over you.   
> The biggest issue is Harry’s age. At this point in time, he’s a 13-year-old who has been sheltered and neglected for the majority of his life. I rarely interact with people of Harry’s age, and definitely no one so sheltered as the books portray. I’m hoping that I’m doing an all right impression of one. He’s a bit too passive for my tastes, especially when interacting with Sirius. But a story wouldn’t be interesting if the characters didn’t grow and change.   
> Another thing that’s bothering me is that it’s hard to write about stuff you haven’t actually been to. Which is going to be a major pain, because, well, that’s what most of the story will be about. Watching a few video tours of something does not mean you can capture how awesome it is. I’m just looking at the tours and making up stuff for the interesting bits I see  
> Well, that’s enough bemoaning from me.   
> Here’s a fic recommendation. I’ll try to do every chapter. Loose Cannon by manatee-vs-walrus. A pretty nice fic about Harry’s growth to adulthood. Doesn’t rely on many tropes, and the characters are pretty well rounded. It gets regularly updated too.   
> Btw, still looking for a proofreader.  
> Stay safe, try to follow (E)CDC/WHO covid guidelines.


	3. Chapter 3

_July 2 nd, Amsterdam _

Harry woke up gradually from the sun shining in his face. The morning sun was peeking through his windows, and birds were chirping. He looked at the clock. A little past eight. He sat in silence for a while, before he went to the window. Looking outside, he could see people walking on the sides of the street and the occasional car driving by. It was a good way to wake up, he thought. He mused that it was one of the quietest mornings he had. At Privet Drive, his aunt woke him up, usually by shouting. At Hogwarts, he slept with 3 other people, and even though he was one of the first to wake up usually, he often had to hurry to get to classes. And mornings at the Weasleys were chaotic and noisy. He liked it like that, but some silence was nice every now and then. He took in the scenery, before deciding to get ready for the day.

He showered, and then went to Sirius’ room. Knocking on the door eventually made Sirius open the door, still looking sleepy. “It’s too early. We’re on a holiday, go back to sleep.” Sirius wiped his eyes.

“Can’t. I showered and I’m wide awake already.” Harry replied. “Dunno what to do.”

Sirius yawned. “Why don’t you go reception, ask where they serve breakfast. I’m going to get ready.” He closed the door and Harry went to the reception. He asked, and was led to a terrace in the back which looked over a beautiful garden. Full with flowers, nicely trimmed bushes and a few trees. Sirius joined him after ten minutes. They went to the buffet table with a huge variety of dishes. They took some sort of dense cake, some waffles and a portion of bacon and eggs.

Harry started with the bacon and eggs, while Sirius tried the cake. “You should have this. It’s amazing.” Sirius said in wonderment.

Harry tried some. It tasted like cinnamon and ginger. "It’s pretty nice.” He replied. “Reminds me of gingerbread.”

“Mhm.” Sirius continued eating.

“The waffles are pretty good, too.” He said, after having some. “Are these the stroopwafels you mentioned?”

“No, they taste different. Let me look if they have some.” Sirius got up and returned with a stack of them. “These are pretty good too.” He placed some on Harry’s plate.

Harry agreed after tasting them. After they were finished, they started talking about more relevant matters.

“So, what are we doing today?” Harry asked.

“You mentioned you wanted to go to a zoo, right?” Sirius started grinning. “It just so happens that there’s a wizarding zoo nearby.”

“Really? That’s great!” Harry stated grinning too, unable to contain his excitement.

“That’s not all, though. The receptionist mentioned the same zoo, so it has a Muggle side too!”

“That’s amazing!” He started talking faster. “Are we going now? As in right now?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He ruffled Harry’s hair, smiling. “We’re going now.”

They walked to a spot where no one could see them, and apparated to the zoo. Sirius decided that they would go to the magical side first, reasoning that it would take less time to see everything there.

When they got inside, the first thing they saw was a large map stuck to a wall. Sirius studied it for a while, trying to see if he remembered any of it. No such luck. In any case, it’d be fun. Not many people could claim to have been to the zoo for the first time multiple times. “Let’s go to the forest habitat first. It looks interesting.” That, and it was the furthest one, so they could walk back and visit them all.

Following the path led them to a small island. When they entered it, it was as if a sudden fog was lifted, and they could see huge areas fenced off. Each area had a big sign flashing in different colors. 

The first one they got to was built for snidgets. At first, it appeared that there were no animals inside, but then Sirius saw them. “Look,” He pointed to a large patch of flowers. “Over there, they’re eating, I think.”

There was a swarm of little round golden birds hovering over the flowers he was pointing at. Some of them tried to land on the flowers, but the flowers couldn’t bear their weight.

“I wonder how they can fly like that. They look like fat little blobs.” Harry said, and started guffawing. He looked around, and could spot some of them zipping by. “They’re amazingly fast too.”

“Probably magic, I guess.” He walked over to the sign to get some more information. “Huh, this is one of the few places in Europe where they’re allowed to be raised in captivity. They have a breeding program here, that’s pretty neat. Oh, get this,” He started grinning a bit. “If you were born a while ago, you’d be catching these instead of the snitches. Can you imagine it?”

“Huh, that’s pretty cool. Would make the game more interesting, they’re a lot harder to spot, not as shiny as snitches.” Harry tried to follow one of the snidgets with his eyes, but lost sight of it. “They look a bit faster too.”

They stayed for a little longer,then left for the next area. It contained small vultures which looked like they could drop dead at any moment. Before they got close enough to read the sign, Sirius recognized them. “Uhhh, let’s go to the next one.” He didn’t want to hear if he was going to die soon, so he started walking towards the next area.

“Why?” Harry looked at Sirius, a puzzling look on his face, but still following him. “They do look kind of boring, I guess.”

Sirius shuddered for a moment. “They bring bad luck.”

“Oh.” Harry sped up as well.

The next area they reached had a large glass wall at the front. Sirius read the sign, a bit puzzled why this one was different. It said that there were fwoopers inside, and that people could touch the glass to hear them, but that it would shock them after 5 minutes. It said that people went insane if they listened to the song for too long.

“Hey, don’t touch the glass for too long, it’ll shock you.” He mentioned to Harry, who was already doing so, staring transfixed at the birds inside. They looked like small owls with a very thin bottom and a very swishy tail. Owls with vibrant purple colored feathers. He could see them chirping, but didn’t hear any of it. Well, he could do without the song. He already had mental issues, no need to tempt fate and become an even bigger headcase. He continued staring at the birds, reasoning that Harry would be fine.

Suddenly, “Yowch!” Harry said, shaking his hands. “Siri – Remus, it shocked me!”

Sirius tried to contain his laughter. “I warned you, didn’t I? The glass will shock you if you listen too long.”

“Errr… I wasn’t paying attention, then. The song is really beautiful.” He placed his hand on the glass again, but immediately pulled back. “Almost like Fawkes, but better in some ways. Fawkes is… soothing, I suppose. His song calms me down, but these, it’s exciting. I don’t know how to explain it. It was doing something to me, almost like the song was just for me.”

Right. That totally didn’t set of the alarm charm in his head. “Errr, maybe we should go to the next area, to avoid the temptation. The sign here,” He pointed at the sign. “Says it causes insanity if you listen to it for too long.”

They walked to the next area, and Sirius immediately recognized the creatures as fairies. Small, beautiful creatures with delicate wings were fluttering around trees. “Fairies,” Sirius said. “pretty vain little creatures. They love being on display. They make for some pretty neat Christmas decorations.”

“I know, I’ve seen them around Hogwarts.” Harry said, looking puzzled at the creatures. “They seem more active here, though.”

“Yeah, they become a bit boring when used as decorations. A lot less mischievous too. Makes sense, wouldn’t want your decorations to fly far from where you want it.”

“I guess so.” Harry looked around and suddenly pointed to the trees. “Are they like butterflies? Look! I never would’ve imagined that.”

Sirius looked at where Harry was pointing and saw some multicolored caterpillars in the trees. They seemed to shift their colors whenever they moved. He started laughing. “Huh, I guess so. Didn’t know about that either.”

“But haven’t you been here before?” Harry looked puzzled.

“Yeah. I suppose I forgot about it, then. It has been a while.”

The next area had a glass wall just like the fwoopers did. Sirius started to get wary, not wanting another repeat of the fwoopers. He immediately looked at the sign, and some tension left his body. No weird mental effects this time.

“Oh, erklings.” He said to Harry. “They lure small children with their voice, that’s why they’re behind soundproofed glass.”

The creatures inside looked like large gnomes with pointy ears walking around. One of them noticed Harry, and started staring hungrily at him, licking his lips. Harry tugged at Sirius’ arm. “Let’s go to the next one, I don’t like the way he was staring at me.”

“Creepy little buggers, aren’t they?” Sirius chuckled as he started walking. “Don’t worry, though. I doubt that they can escape. Otherwise the zoo wouldn’t have them, right?”

When they reached the next area, Harry started laughing as soon as they saw the creatures. “Look. It’s like someone transfigured a frog to have monkey limbs and a tail.” Harry said, shaking with laughter as he tried to point at them. One of the creatures heard the commotion and came closer to take a look at what was causing it.

Sirius started to make faces at it, and the creature attempted to mimic him, which only made Harry laugh harder. Suddenly, the creature ran away, and the lump on its head started blinking. The others soon noticed it, and started doing the same. The area looked pretty desolate after that.

“Aww, they scare so easily” Harry tried his best to spot another one.

Not finding any, they decided to go to the next enclosure. It was much more densely packed with big trees. They both tried to spot anything, but couldn’t see anything. Suddenly they could hear a clicking sound. “Errr… Sirius,” Harry’s face became pale. “Let’s go, I know what these are.” He grabbed Sirius’ arm and started pulling him away.

“What’s in there?” Sirius asked, looking a tad worried.

“Acromantulas.” Harry said, which made Sirius’ face blanch as well.

“How do you know that? Where’d you hear one?” Sirius asked. He doubted that Harry got to see one during class.

“I never told you about my second year, right?” He looked at Sirius, and continued when Sirius shook his head. “So, there was this basilisk petrifying Muggleborns –”

“Oh.” Sirius hummed. “There was a WHAT?” Sirius voice gained a hysteric edge at the end.

“Yeah, a basilisk was petrifying students, and no one knew what it was. So, the minister arrested Hagrid because he needed to be seen doing something about the situation.” He glanced at Sirius, who still looked shocked.

“We were going to ask Hagrid what magical creature could petrify people, since he loves all sort of animals, but he got arrested before he could explain anything, really. He did tell us to follow the spiders to get answers – A bad idea, thinking back – So we followed a spider trail to the forbidden forest –”

“You know, I’m all about having fun and causing a bit of trouble for the teachers,” Sirius got closer and pointed at Harry’s face. “But not if it’s dangerous. Like going to the forbidden forest as second years.”

“It’s fine, we escaped, didn’t get harmed at all. Plus, the spiders told us it was a Basilisk.” Harry said, shifting around uncomfortably.

“No! It’s not fine! Escaping unharmed does not make it ok. The mere fact that you _escaped_ instead of walked away normally shows how dangerous it was.” He raised his arms in frustration.

Harry needed a few seconds “I won’t go there again, I promise.” He said. He choked for a moment. “It’s... it’s not like I want to go back there after the acromantulas tried to eat us.”

“Eat you? Eat you! That’s it, you are not allowed to go to the forbidden forest ever. It’s forbidden for a reason. Like having giant man-eating spiders and Merlin knows what else.” Sirius walked around, trying to calm down. “So, what happened to the ba – basilisk?”

“It got slain in the end, and the healer unpetrified the students.” Harry said, looking at the ground. “It turned out all right in the end.”

“Good. Promise me that next time, if you think something is dangerous, that you’ll tell an adult.” Sirius looked at Harry’s eyes. “Even if it’s Snivel – err, Snape. And take Hagrid’s advice with a grain of salt. He’s a good person, fun to be around. But Merlin knows that what he considers dangerous and what normal people do are completely different things. I still remember when he tried to crossbreed crups with a hodag to make them more interesting.” He shuddered at that.

Harry swallowed. “Yeah. I promise.”

“Good. Now let’s go to somewhere else, I need to take my mind of this.” They started walking to the next area, while Sirius was lost in thought. Hogwarts was a lot more dangerous than he remembered. He certainly never saw acromantulas or basilisks while he was there. But more importantly, Hagrid. Hagrid got chucked in Azkaban for no reason, same as him. Hagrid, someone who worked for Dumbledore. He could see the parallels. He tried to think about something else, today was supposed to be fun. Not introducing Harry to creatures that terrified him, or thinking about Azkaban. He thought of any interesting but harmless creatures he could bring them to, when he remembered something from his last visit. Crups.

He brightened. “Hey, I know what’ll cheer you up. Come on, it’ll be fun. And definitely not dangerous.” He started walking to the next area with a spring in his step. “You’ll definitely like it.”

It took a while to get there, as it was an altogether different area. Sirius led them to the entrance. “This one is kind of different. You’re allowed to go inside this one, they have crups.”

They went inside, and soon they were surrounded by small dogs. They were yipping, running around the pair and wagging their tails in excitement. “You can pet them, they’re pretty great.” Sirius said, squatting down to do just that.

Sirius regaled Harry with tales of his great-aunt, who used to keep a lot of crups. He didn’t mention that his aunt used to release them in Muggle neighborhoods to cause chaos. Eventually, the tale died down and he started getting bored. “Hey, do you want to visit the other creatures? There are some pretty interesting ones around here. We can come back later, if you want.” Harry nodded and got up reluctantly.

They reached another area, which contained garden gnomes. The inside was a hilly area covered with grass, gnomes running about, laughing. Some of them were close to the fence, making faces at the pair. There were several small swings on the ground, with gnomes swinging like crazy on them. One almost did a full turn but flew away from the swings, and several others were laughing at him. A small catapult was just besides the swings, and there was a queue of gnomes behind it. They took turns getting shot away, each of them screaming in exhilaration.

Harry furrowed his brows. “Hey Sirius, when I stayed at Ron’s house last summer, we degnomed the garden. We were throwing them over the fence. Why are these ones enjoying it?”

“Oh, they come back after you’ve thrown them.” Sirius said, thinking. “I think gnomes go to wizarding homes because they have fun there, not for the food. Well, that, and they won’t get eaten there.”

“So we weren’t really removing gnomes from the garden?” Harry asked.

“Nah. If you really want to get rid of the critters, you have to bring a jarvey. Maybe Molly just keeps them to keep you guys busy. Doesn’t she have lots of kids? Like five of em?”

“No,” Harry grinned. “seven of them.”

“See, she probably doesn’t want to remove them completely, so she can keep an eye on them while they’re busy, instead of causing chaos.” He frowned. “I remember the twins when they were small. Before, before, you know… Always exploring and running around, hard to keep an eye on them.”

“That makes sense, they’re always holed up in their rooms, causing explosions and experimenting with prank items.” Harry gained a wistful look.

They went to another area containing winged horses after that. All of them were brown with black and white wings. The sign explained that they were aethonans, and that people were allowed to pet them, which Harry did eagerly.

“I went to an aethonan race once,” Sirius said. “it was an experience.”

“Oh? What was that like?” Harry turned to face Sirius.

“Oh, lots of fun. Pretty festive atmosphere. People cheering their favorite horse on, very rowdy.” Sirius mused. “Lots of betting going on. I lost all my pocket money betting on the favorite, once – that’s an important lesson, I suppose. Don’t bet what you can’t afford to lose – Didn’t look forward to facing my father that day. It’s great, though. Way more brilliant than broom racing. The laps are shorter, so you don’t just see a tiny spot flying around most of the time.”

“Can we visit one this summer?” Harry shuffled his feet. “I’ve never seen a race before.”

“Sure, I’ll see if I can plan in something.”

“What do wizards do for fun? Besides quidditch and races?” Harry asked. “I think Hogwarts has an exploding snap club, and a hobstones one?”

“Gobstones,” Sirius corrected him. “There’s lots of things to do. Let’s see.” He thought for a moment. “There’s card games, like exploding snap, rummy and poker. Professional dueling is fun too.”

“There’s capture the flag, which is a bit like dueling, but with teams and you have to capture and protect an area.” He continued. “There’s quodpod too, but it’s totally inferior to quidditch. Doesn’t make sense at all, really. Bloody new world people.” His lips curled up. “Other than that, dumb drinking games, I suppose. Won’t see clubs at Hogwarts for it, though.” He stopped for a moment. “If you have to play chicken, do it on the quidditch pitch, it’s charmed to prevent serious harm.”

“What’s chicken? Besides, you know.” Harry made some flapping motions with his arms.

“Oh, it’s great. You fly up with your mates, and some of them stay on the ground. Then, you jump of the broom together, and when you yell stop, the people on the ground cast the levitate charm on you. The first to yell stop is the chicken, he has to drink a shot and has to do a dare from the last person who stops.” Sirius stilled. “On second thought, please don’t do it. Or if you do it, don’t tell me about it, you’ll give me gray hairs. Rumor has it that that’s the reason why Dumbledore’s nose looks like that, that he got injured so badly playing chicken they never could heal it completely.”

“Right.” Harry gulped. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

After Harry had enough of petting the winged horses, they visited the steelers, big honking snails with a shimmering shell that kept changing colors. They left a trail of slime that killed plants within seconds, and you could see the paths the snails took.

Right beside them, there was an area that contained mooncalves, small silvery white animals with a hilariously long neck and disproportionally big head. Harry remarked that the eyes vaguely reminded him of house elves, but that they were a lot prettier. Sirius noticed what the next area contained, and started grinning. “Come on, you have to see these, they’re hilarious.”

There were some big ferrets walking around, and some of them were peeking out of their burrows.

“These are jarveys I mentioned earlier.” Sirius said. “Watch this –”

“Helloooo” Sirius yelled while ticking the fence.

“Shut your gob, you bastard.” Said one of the jarveys, coming closer. “Your voice sounds like caterwauling.”

“What?” Harry said, looking confused.

“They insult people.” Sirius chuckled. “They’re good at it too – Your face looks like someone stomped on it!”

“Well, you look like you haven’t eaten in a week, idiot.” The jarvey reached the end of the fence and started standing on its hindlegs.

“You need to be in a zoo just to survive.” Sirius was having fun.

“At least I have hair, you naked mole rat. I bet you’d die in the winter.”

“You look like you’re the runt of your litter.”

“Your mother is so ugly, your grandfather lost all his money trying to find a mate for her.”

Sirius started laughing. “That the best you can do, mate?”

“She’s so horrible, she has to pay people to be around her.” Another jarvey joined in.

Sirius started snickering. “I bet that’s how we lost a quarter of our fortune.”

“Your voice is so bad, they made a spell just to silence you.”

“At least I don’t live in sand.”

“You look like you’re the runt of your litter.”

“Didn’t you say that? It doesn’t even apply to you.” Harry asked, trying to contain his laughter.

“They’re not very smart, can’t really have a conversation. They’re just repeating insults they hear. Watch.” He turned back to the jarvey. “What do you do most of the time?”

“Stop staring at me, you overgrown ferret.”

“See? You could try to have a normal conversation with them, but they don’t really understand.”

Sirius had lots of fun trading insults and egging on the jarveys, but eventually they got bored and wandered off. Sirius and Harry visited the ashwinder and salamander area after that. It was completely walled off with glass and there was a big fire inside, surrounded by ashy trails. Occasionally a salamander with its skin on fire ran outside, and some snakes were visible wiggling through the fire. They both agreed that it wasn’t terribly interesting.

It took a while getting to the next area, as it was completely separated from the previous ones. It contained a beach, and the sign explained that there were firecrabs, murtlaps and hippocampi inside. There were several firecrabs scuttling around, they looked like sea turtles with multicolored crystals out of their back. A couple of them were fighting and shooting flames at each other. Upon closer inspection, they saw pink rats with tentacles on their back running about. Sirius explained that you could pickle the tentacles, and that they worked wonders on small injuries.

Harry was eager to get back to the crups, so they went back after that. They stayed there, playing with the crups until Sirius got hungry. They went to a nearby café and had some lunch.

They went to the Muggle side of the zoo after that. It was much, much bigger than the wizarding one. There were so much more animals to see, but it wasn’t just limited to animals. There were also big displays with various exotic plants. They had these enormous aquariums that Sirius couldn’t stop talking about. The area where they could pet animals was much bigger too, and not just limited to two types of animals. There were sheep, goats, rabbits, ponies and even 1 alpaca. Plus, there was a huge playground there. Harry spent a lot of time on it, while Sirius sat at the side, watching him. They were just about to leave the playground to continue exploring the other animals, when a kid fell on the ground and started crying.

Suddenly Sirius couldn’t focus. He looked around, trying to see what was happening. Everything looked like was speeding by so fast, too fast to follow. He turned around to where he thought Harry was, but everything was blurry. He felt the temperature drop.

Merlin, a panic attack. Shit, shit, shit, not with Harry here. Everything felt cold now. He could feel cold drops of sweat traveling down his back. He shuddered. He tried to calm down, but it only got worse. He couldn’t breathe. He felt like he was suffocating. He tried to take a step, but it felt like his body wasn’t listening to him. Where was he? What was he doing here?

His thoughts started getting jumbled, blazing by so fast he couldn’t focus on any of them. Nothing made sense, he felt like he was dropped off in Azkaban again. He felt his heart pounding. Shit. Didn’t the healer say what to do in this situation? Why couldn’t he focus on it? Why was he so useless? The world was shaking. No, wait, he was shaking.

He could hear someone talking to him. What was he saying? It sounded weird, distorted. “- you aaaaall –” He heard. He tried to respond, but nothing came out. “Sirius, wha –” Oh, shit, that was James. No. No, James was dead. Dead, and it was all his fault. He had to find Peter. Had to make sure he was all right, that he wasn’t tortured. What was he doing here? Where was here? The world was shaking again, he was starting to get nauseous. It felt like an eternity before it subsided a little.

Suddenly, He could make out what he was seeing again. James – no, Harry was right in front of his face, looking panicked. Shit, he had a potion for this in his pouch, he remembered now. He fumbled with the pouch, trying to open it. He got it eventually, and pulled the stopper out. Took a big gulp, some of it splashing on his face.

The world got clearer now. His thoughts were calming down a bit. He Harry was still there, looking panicked. He took a few deep breaths, trying to focus. He wanted to be alone now, but he couldn’t leave Harry here. He had to take them to the hotel.

“It’s all right, it’s better now.” He said, his voice sounding raspy. His throat was sore, did he scream? He didn’t remember doing that.

“What was that? You suddenly started breathing fast and looking around and wouldn’t respond when I tried to talk to you.” Harry said very fast, wringing his hands. He still had a panicked look on his face.

“It’s ok, it’s fine now.” He hugged Harry, trying to comfort him. “It’s nothing big, just a minor panic attack.”

“Are you really? That didn’t look good at all.” Harry said, his sound sounding muffled. “You scared me.” He tightened his arms around Sirius. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

“Yeah, it’s nothing to worry about, I’ll explain later. Let’s go to the hotel, all right?” He tried to loosen the hug.

They went to a secluded place and apparated directly to Sirius’ room.

“Let me sort out my thoughts for a while, I’ll explain what happened later, ok?” Sirius said.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Sirius?” Harry was pacing around. “What if it happens again?”

“Yeah, it’s ok. I can handle it. I have a potion for it, see?” It’s not like he hadn’t experienced it before. He fished out another calming potion from his pouch. “Go to your room, read something.” He thought for a moment. “Or see what the hotel has to offer as entertainment. Just don’t leave the hotel. I just want to be alone for a while.”

Harry eventually agreed, although Sirius could see that it was with much reluctance.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sirius went to the sink to wash his face. The cold water hitting his face helped a bit, he felt less awful after that. He went and sat down on his bed.

Merlin. Of all the times to have a panic attack, did it have to be now? He was a complete and utter failure at being a responsible adult. He was a wreck, a complete and utter wreck. How was he going to explain this to Harry? Couldn’t it have happened when he was alone?

Should he explain it to Harry? Perhaps he could wave it off. No, that’s not what a responsible adult would do. But what if he scared him away? What if Harry thought he was weak or crazy? What if he didn’t want to spend time with him anymore? He didn’t want to lose Harry too. But he needed to say something, couldn’t keep him in the dark forever. And he needed Harry’s help with this, having the calming draught in his pouch was a bad idea in retrospect. It was no use having them if he couldn’t drink them if he was having an attack. It would make much more sense if Harry had them and made Sirius drink one if it happened again. But that would mean he would have to explain so much more than he wanted.

He felt like such a failure. Was it even right to be traveling with Harry? What if he placed him in danger? Maybe it would be better if he dropped him of at his relatives again. Or the Weasleys maybe. But then he wouldn’t see Harry again. As hard as it was to admit, being around Harry made him feel better. Being alone was not good for him.

Sirius continued thinking about what he was going to tell Harry, until his thoughts started going in circles. He got up and started pacing around, trying to get himself ready.

He decided to take a shower first, hoping that it would calm him down more. Totally not to avoid the conversation, he should stop listening to his traitorous mind.

After he was finished, he went to Harry’s room and knocked on the door. No response. He tried again with the same results. He alohomora’d the lock, but the room was empty. Perhaps he was downstairs? He went down, and asked the receptionist if she’d seen where Harry went. She said she saw him walking towards the back, that he could’ve gone to the back terrace. He went there, and saw Harry sitting down, staring at the trees. He looked deep in thought.

He walked to the table, gulping before he started. “Hey Ha – Ron.”

“Hey Remus.” Harry looked relieved to see him. He tried checking Sirius over.

“I’m fine now,” He fidgeted a bit. “And I’m ready to explain what happened. Let’s go to my room.” Yeah, totally not postponing anything.

Harry got up and they went to Sirius’ room in silence. When they got there, Sirius took a few deep breaths, and started. “You might want to sit down for this.” He said, pointing towards his bed.

Harry sat down, and Sirius joined besides him.

“First, I’m really sorry you had to see that.” Sirius said. “I should’ve told you about this sooner. It wasn’t fair to you that you had to see that without knowing what was happening. Or that you had to deal with that at all.” Sirius bit his lip.

“What exactly happened? Do you –”

“Let me finish, please. I promise I’ll answer your questions. Let me explain first.” He wringed his hands. He wasn’t sure if he could continue, better to explain it in one go. “So, Azkaban hasn’t been good to me, and neither did the night preceding it.”

Harry touched his scar subconsciously.

“I have panic attacks sometimes – That’s what happened earlier.” Sirius looked down. “I think the kid crying started it. Reminded me of when I found you.”

“How – What is it exactly?” Harry placed his hand on Sirius’.

“Basically, I get really panicked for no clear reason. It’s hard to explain. It’s not like normal panic, panic. That, I can deal with.” He shifted around. “Everything I see starts getting hazy and too fast to follow. It’s hard to think clearly. Sometimes, I forget where I am.” He swallowed. He didn’t want to explain the worse aspects of it. Better not to burden Harry more. “And I lose control of my body. It gets really hard to do anything, to respond to my surroundings. How did it look from your side?”

“It was hard. I just stood there, didn’t know what to do. I felt so helpless.” Sirius embraced Harry, trying to reassure him. “Everything seemed fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Then suddenly you started looking around real fast. I got closer and saw you were breathing rapidly. Your eyes were wide. I mean really, really wide. I tried getting your attention, but you wouldn’t respond. It – it was scary.” Harry gulped. “Your eyes looked weird. Like no one was there. They were flickering around. And I couldn’t do anything.” Harry started crying silently.

“Shhh, shhh, It’s all right now, it’s over. Come here –” Sirius pulled Harry closer and embraced him, trying to reassure him. “We’re in my room now, I’m save and sound.”

“How do we prevent it from happening? How do I make it stop if it happens?” Harry sobbed.

“I have to work through that on my own. I don’t think you can prevent them, besides avoiding situations that trigger them.” Sirius said. “But you can help me if it happens.” He rummaged through his pouch and removed seven calming draughts. “Here, if it happens, make me drink one of these. Force it down my throat if you have to.”

“What are they?” Harry took one, turning it around trying to find a label. “You drank one of these earlier, right?”

“Yeah. They’re calming draughts. I’m supposed to drink one if I get a panic attack. That’s what I went to the healer for.” Sirius looked down again. “But I forgot about something very important. Stupid of me, really. If I can’t control my body, I can’t stop an attack by drinking one.”

Harry chuckled weakly. “It’s all right, no one can blame you, we all make mistakes.”

“I should’ve known better, though. And I really should’ve told you earlier so you wouldn’t have to feel helpless there.” He scratched his hair. “But yeah, keep these in your pouch. If it happens again, make me drink one.” He stopped and his eyes widened a bit. “If it happens when we’re in a dangerous situation, grab me and portkey me out. You remember the activation word, right?”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “But won’t that make your panic attack worse? They’re already pretty bad when you’re normal.”

“Maybe. But you can always give me the potion after we get portkeyed there. But if we stay, I might end up getting arrested, or dead,” He said the last part in a whisper. “Or kissed by a dementor.”

Harry gulped. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Hmmm, maybe I should teach you apparition. Gives you more options to escape if we ever need it. Anyway, do you have any questions about my attacks?” He hunched down a bit.

“Yeah. What causes them? And how often do you get it? Will they stop eventually? Will you get better?”

“It’s mainly things that remind me of _that night_ or Azkaban.” Sirius said. “Like very loud noises, or small, cold and dark places, or babies crying. They don’t happen often. It happened two, no, three times before this.” He shuffled his feet. “I don’t know how when I’ll be free from them. I hope it’s soon. I’ll have to ask Patrick how I should prevent them if I need to get more calming draughts.”

Sirius felt strangely relieved, sitting there and embracing Harry. It felt good, letting it all out. Harry didn’t think he was weak. Maybe Patrick was right, maybe he should open up. But to who? There weren’t many people he could open up to, with everyone thinking he was an escaped criminal. He still felt conflicted about Remus. Did Remus truly think so little of him? Did he really think that he’d betray James? Or try to kill Peter without a good reason? That left the other small group of people who knew the real story. Not Harry, it wasn’t right to burden him more. He was just a kid, shouldn’t have to shoulder this. The less said about Dumbledore, the better.

He stayed there, embracing Harry until he started becoming uncomfortable. “Hey, Harry?” He shook him lightly. “The attack took a lot out of me. I’m sorry we had to cut the visit to the zoo short, I’ll promise I’ll have something fun planned for tonight. But I really want to get a nap now.”

“It’s all right. You can’t help it, yeah?” Harry’s voice sounded a bit muffled. “Besides, this holiday already more brilliant than any I’ve had before.” He tightened his arms for a moment before getting up. “Really, it is. And that’s what the trip is for, right? To heal, so take it easy, all right? I’ll try to take a nap too.”

“Great. Wake me up around seven.” He was proud of his godson. He wasn’t sure if he’d be so understanding when he was 13. “We’ll try to go to another museum or something.”

Harry left the room, and Sirius locked the door.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

When Sirius woke up, it was already dark. He looked at the clock. 10 o’clock. Didn’t he ask Harry to wake him at 7? He got up and washed his face. Well, going to another museum was out for today, no way that one would be open at this hour. Maybe a movie would be fine? He decided to ask Harry if he was interested.

He walked to Harry’s room, and then realized he didn’t have a key. He really needed to rectify that later. “Alohomora” He pointed his wand towards the lock. Opening the door revealed a sleeping Harry. Sirius smiled at that. Harry was one of the few good things in his life. Deciding to let him rest, he closed the door and locked it. He went back to his room, and peered out of the window. It didn’t look particularly busy tonight. He stood there, taking in the fresh night air until his stomach growled.

He could do with some food, he decided. And maybe a stiff drink, he deserved it after what happened. Sirius took a shower first, and then went outside his room. He almost reached the stairs before he remembered Harry. What if he waked up and couldn’t find him? He went back to his room to find something to write on, and found a notepad and a pen on the nightstand. He tore off a page and scribbled that he would go to a pub, that Harry didn’t have to worry. After he closed his door, he went to Harry’s room and pushed the note under the door.

That done, he went to the receptionist. There was a different lady there this time. He asked her if there were any pubs nearby, and the lady said there was a decent bar not far from here. She explained how to get there, and Sirius thanked her.

He could see it after a few minutes walking. It stood out from its surroundings with the decorative lighting and the noise. Going inside, he could see a modern interior. Light beige walls and bright lighting. The inside was neatly sectioned in 3 areas he could see. A place where people were dancing, a bar area where people were drinking and a small section with tables, he could see some people eating there. He went to the bar area and ordered fries, a plate with bitterballen and a glass of the best whiskey they had. After he got it, he went to one of the tables.

The fries looked greasy, and were a bit soggy. It would suffice, he thought. Looking around if no one was watching him, he fished out a supplement potion and downed it. The food tasted pretty salty, but didn’t have much flavor beyond that. The bitterballen tasted like fried lumps of batter, barely any meat flavor. You had to be drunk to enjoy them, he decided.

He looked around while he ate. It was mostly teenagers dancing, with some older people mixed in. They looked like they were having fun, and he considered joining after he was done with his meal. After he was done, he gulped down his whiskey, barely noticing the burn, and went to pay.

To the dancefloor, then. He had to search a bit before he spotted 2 older women standing at the sides. That would take some getting used to, the fact that he wasn’t 20 anymore. He approached them and tried his best to look confident doing so.

“Hey, you guys look dashing tonight. I’m Remus, can I get you something to drink?” He grinned.

They looked at each other and the one of left one giggled at the other. “I’m Anne, and she’s Sophie.” She pointed at the other woman. “You can get me a beer. She’s just waiting for her boyfriend, he just went to the toilet.”

“All right, I’ll be right back, then.” He placed the order and returned with 2 beers. When he came back, there was another man with them. He gave one to Anne and raised an eyebrow.

She returned a questioning look, and answered after Sirius pointed at the man. “Oh, that’s her boyfriend, Dean.”

“I see.” Sirius waved at him. “Are you guys from around here?”

“If you mean the Netherlands, yeah. But not from this city. We finished uni this year, and decided to travel before getting a job. What about you?”

“I’m from Britain.” He replied. “Taking a holiday with my nephew.”

“Oh, your Dutch is impeccable.” She said. “I thought you were from further up north. Maybe from Friesland. Nice accent, by the way.”

“Thanks.” He smiled. “Do you want to dance a bit?”

“Sure.” She said. “Let me finish my drink first.”

She signaled her other companions after finishing the drink and they went to the dancefloor. The music was soft enough that they could keep talking.

“So what did you study in?” Sirius asked.

“Behavioral Economics.”

“Oh, sounds fancy. What is that all about?”

“It’s a mix of psychology and economics. How people behave in certain situations, how we can nudge people to do certain things, like paying taxes for example, or to start eating healthier. Stuff like that.”

“That’s interesting. Why’d you pick that?” Sirius felt completely out of his depth, and decided to continue asking more about her. People liked that in general.

“I dunno. It’s interesting to me, to see how people tick. To know why they do what they do.” She said “But that’s enough about me, how do you like the Netherlands?”

“It’s all right, I suppose. The architecture is more modern, and the buildings are more colorful. The people are chattier and livelier.” He held her close as they swayed to the music. “The food’s better, and I love the sights so far. I’ve only been here for two days. I visited the Scheepvaartsmuseum yesterday, loved it. You?”

“A bit of the same, really. But I’m enjoying myself. Have you visited the Gardens of Europe?”

“No, can’t say I’ve had the pleasure to do so. What is it? Sounds a bit pretentious, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, it’s amazing. It’s the biggest garden in Europe. We went there yesterday. Giant fields full with flowers. Lots of tulips, but other flowers too. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” She pressed closer to him as a particularly romantic sounding song started playing. “And it smells amazing too. You should definitely go there if you have the time.”

“I’ll check it out. Can’t do anything else, can I, with such a glowing review.” He grinned.

They continued dancing, getting more adventurous as the night went on.

“So where are you staying at?” She winked.

“Errr… At a hotel nearby.” He was a bit startled. She was a lot more forward than he was used to. “You want to come back to my place?”

“Sure.” She said, but looked uncertain after that. “That is, if you’re interested, of course.”

“Yes, of course. You’re interesting to talk to, and a sight to behold.” He said, trying to reassure her.

“Flatterer” She laughed, looking relieved to hear that. “Let me talk to Sophie for a moment, and then we can go.”

She looked around until she spotted her friends on the dancefloor. They navigated through the other dancing people until they reached Sophie. She explained where she was going and they left the building after that.

They walked slowly, enjoying the night. Sirius liked the cold breeze blowing by. Eventually, they reached the hotel Sirius was staying at and he led her to his room where they had some fun before retiring for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, here’s a new chapter. This one wasn’t easy to write. I really need a beta reader. Someone who has experience with PTSD, anxiety attacks, depression and/or amnesia would be one hell of a plus.
> 
> I thought about writing a smut scene, but I have this horrible suspicion I’d suck at it. I feel like a baby when I’m writing, I have no sense of object permanence. Plus, you know, not the focus of the story. It’d be weird finding one here.
> 
> So this was my backlog of stuff already posted on ffn. The next one will be in 2 weeks, or maybe a little longer since I have some exams coming up.
> 
> Please review if you can. I’d enjoy getting some more interaction going. It tells me what I need to improve on, and makes me more enthusiastic to write.
> 
> Anyway, here is my story recommendation. 
> 
> **Fates and Choices** by **ncfan**. It’s part of a series of one-shots. It gives some much-needed depth to the Percy situation. Pretty interesting, definitely worth reading.
> 
> That’s all, folks. Stay safe, follow your country’s COVID guidelines


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